Green Daily

It doesn't take a doctor to tell you that the fast-paced life of an urban hustler can carry with it serious health consequences. A new study has found that dumpster diving, sex at an early age, and obesity are just a couple of the health risks face by a new generation of black bears that are quickly trading the serenity of country life for the bright lights and easy pickins of the big city.

The study focuses on two groups of bears in the Lake Tahoe area. The first is a group of 12 bears that lives just on the outskirts of town, drawn to the ease of finding food -- namely garbage. The second group consists of 10 bears living in outlying wilderness areas. The finding were pretty telling. The citified bears, dining on their feasts of garbage, weighed on average 30% more than their country cousins. Their reproductive habits were also strikingly different, giving birth between ages 2-5 rather than the typical 7 or 8.

To make matters worse, all 12 urban bears featured in the study were dead by age 10 -- due to motor vehicle collisions. Of the country bears, 6 were alive to see their 10th birthday. According to Jon Beckman of the Wildlife Conservation Society, "Urban areas are becoming the ultimate bear traps," luring populations to urbanized areas where they meet their demise.