Home composters know that throwing your kitchen scraps outside can invite unwanted guests to your yard. From rodents that come in to snack on the leftover food to other predators who follow the rodents in, your compost bin can quickly become home to the entire circle of life.
However, one Redditor says that her compost was being raided by a slightly larger visitor after she spotted a bear on her Ring camera. Not wanting to deal with any potential issues that could contaminate her compost, she searched for a more…let’s say natural…way to deter the bear from stopping by.
In the end, @elk_meadow says the perfect solution had been hiding in plain sight the whole time, and after she was able to test it out, she shared a video of just how well it worked with the Composting Subreddit, which was eventually covered by The Cool Down.
Her solution? Her own urine!
Redditor Dumps Human Pee Near Compost
Finally a bear deterrent- guess what I did
by
u/Elk_Meadow in
composting
The black and white video shared by the OP definitely appeared to show the pee trick working, since the bear seemed like it was going to head directly to where the camera was, but instead turned away at the last minute. “This video shows her walking on by, because I peed on it,” the excited homeowner wrote. “Not even a closer look. (The compost is to the right of the screen just out of view). Success!”
However, the OP later shared that this wasn’t a one-and-done solution and that she has to top the compost pile off with some fresh pee a couple times a week.
People Were Impressed by the Idea
You may have expected people to be repelled by the thought of adding urine to a compost pile, but the Redditors largely celebrated the idea.
“Pee is always the solution,” one person wrote.
“Whoa, that’s wild,” another person added.
However, the most interesting comment came from the Redditor who wondered whether or not bears consider humans a bigger predator.
“There was a study where 95 percent of savanna mammals were twice as likely to flee, and abandoned waterholes 40 percent faster, upon hearing calm human speech compared to the sounds of growling lions,” someone responded. “We are super predators!”
That answer was actually pretty accurate, according to a 2023 study published by Cell Press through ScienceDirect, which did find that 95 percent of species were more likely to run from the sound of humans than the sound of lions. That included giraffes, hyenas, zebras, and more.
Well, it sounds like we can add bears to the list now, too. Well, if they also get a whiff of strong human scent, that is.