Bears are the most notorious of all the mammalian bee pests because they can literally wipe out an entire apiary in one night. However, your bear risks depend largely on where you live. In Georgia, bears are primarily a problem in the mountains and extreme southeast.

Bears enter a bee yard to feed on the honey and brood. Bears will usually only affect one to three colonies a night, but will continue to return until all the colonies in the apiary have been destroyed. Electric fences are one solution against a hungry bear, but depending on his determination, nothing may deter him from getting to the hives and destroying them. Once a bear acquires a taste for honey, sometimes the best defense is just to move the colonies to another site.

Honey Bee Disorders / UGA Honey Bee Program / UGA Entomology Department