Yes. More like the deliberate lack of a policy/principled stand against having any kind of wildlife management severely exacerbated the dumpster-raiding, which in turn disrupted normal hibernation and other patterns and created a nightmarish feedback loop of increasingly dysfunctional bear behavior.

There's a lot for you to like in A Suitable Boy! I'll be interested to hear what you think. Also apparently Vikram Seth is writing a sequel??? That will take place in the present (instead of 1951-52)?? I just learned this and am feeling extremely wary but also curious.