Or, for that matter, can humans and bears?

Can Bears and Humans Coexist? - The Atlantic

"In response to the killing, a local citizen started a petition to change Arizona Game and Fish’s policy for killing bears, and just about every big newspaper in the state wrote about it."

More than half a century ago, when I lived in Duluth, this question came up every Autumn like clockwork. Bears would come into town looking for food and the letters-to-the-editor page of the newspaper would reliably bloom into a passion of pro- and anti-bear shooting missives, never to be resolved. 

When I was in the fifth or sixth grade my Mom woke me up one night and took me down to the kitchen where there was a door to the outside—just a screen door, as it was still quite warm—and whispered to me, stand still and don’t make noise. On the other side of the door was a pretty big-looking bear, trying to get the top off our galvanized steel garbage can. 

Surely it would have been easier for the bear to just walk through the door but it persisted trying to prod the lid with its nose until finally, frustrated, it simply slapped a paw on the top and lifted it off that way. And had dinner.

The next morning I went out to look at the can lid and it had two neat punctures made by the bear’s claws.

There are all sorts of bear stories about Duluth. Don’t get me started.