SARANAC LAKE – The state Department of Environmental Conservation is warning village residents to be on the lookout for a bear that has been causing considerable problems for homeowners.

The bear has been raiding garbage cans and bird feeders in the southeast part of the village, roughly from Brandy Brook Avenue near NBT Bank south to the Saranac Lake Shopping Center and from the eastern shore of Lake Flower east to McKenzie Pond Road. This area is a rough approximation based on reports from homeowners.

The DEC is asking residents, businesses and visitors to take precautions to avoid conflicts with the animal:

Secure all garbage cans and grills with chains or electric fence, or store them inside of a secure structure.

Garbage should be placed out on the morning of collection and not the night before.

Grills, if they can’t be secured or stored inside, should be moved away from the house, and the grease trap should be removed and cleaned after each use.

Bird feeders should be removed.

Livestock and beehives should also be secured behind electric fence.

Garage doors and first-story windows should be closed at night.

DEC spokesman David Winchell said in a press release that “the lack of natural food due to the small amount of rainfall has resulted in many bears seeking food in human communities across the Adirondacks. Please share this notification with friends and neighbors to help spread the message.”

There have been issues in the High Peaks Wilderness as well, with numerous hikers posting on Facebook forums about their run-ins with bears.

Two Paul Smith’s College alumni who hiked all 46 High Peaks a couple of weeks ago recounted two bear incidents they experienced. The first was just a run-in with a bear on the trail, but the second was much more serious.

“We started yelling and threw a couple of things at him, and he took off,” Mike LeMay told the Enterprise. “And then he came right back to us. We got a little more aggressive, yelling and throwing things, and he was just huffing and hissing at us.

“This bear clearly had his rounds that he was making. He had a history of being successful, probably.”