The following is meant to be tongue in cheek:

At what point does this "cute" but semi dangerous creature become a problem which must be dealt with, by proper authorized methods.

PS that feeder is 4" in diameter, and full of tooth marks.

What we do when this fellow or his friends come along is to suspend the bird seed for a week, and they seem to leave for the year. This area is very rich agricultural land and there appears to be no shortage of rich and plentiful food for the bears in this area. I must agree that it is not in any way the bears fault for raiding the feeder, and since he found it, he is more than welcome to it.

From the looks of things, the problem here was created by the person who hung that bird feeder too low.

The bear is doing what comes natural, too bad he is the one who has to pay the price for someone's ignorance in bear country.

MG

The only "problem" I see is that this bear is being baited in with seed. Birds don't need seed this time of year and this situation is very common here in my part of NY. Other popular bear attractants that lead to negative human-bear interactions include garbage stored outside/dumpsters, barbeque grills, compost piles and outdoor pet food containers. Apiaries (beehives) are also a big attractant, but many beekeepers in bear country use the "ounce of prevention" theory to keep the bears away.

Black bears that are continuously brought in to human-placed attractants/food sources become more "comfortable" around humans, dogs, etc. Every encounter increases the chances of a misunderstood or bad situation. Most of suburbia hasn't a clue about bears, so when the bear stands up on it's hind legs it's taken by the quivering human as a sign of aggression, when all the bear is trying to do is get it's nose up higher to get a good smell.

Don't blame the bear for being a bear by finding an easy food source. The only proper authorized method for this bear should be legal hunting season.