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All Education Articles
This Shuswap resident is smarter than the average bear.Ken Oakes snapped this photo of a black bear using a ladder in an attempt to get at a bird feeder in Anstey Arm on Monday, August 22.
"The bear almost got to the bird feeder but the ladder tipped over as he started to climb. It looked as though he was going to attempt to stand it up again but gave up," says Oakes.
He says there are plenty of bears searching for available snacks, likely due to the late berry season. You may also want to keep a close eye on your picnic baskets.
Relying on "black gold" to nourish their Greater Trail gardens has led a couple of friends to creating bear-proof composters.
Now, after solving their own critter problems, a team of gardeners swears by their smell-resistant composters that not only look attractive in their backyard but also keep the bears away.
A surge of problem bears on the North Shore is causing headaches for conservation officers, as a poor berry crop has driven the animals into populated areas.
So far, eight bears have been killed on the North Shore, compared to 10 last year and one the year before.
Conservation officers and RCMP have been called to three instances where bears have entered people's houses, including one on Tuesday on Brockton Crescent in North Vancouver where a woman was trapped inside the home as the bear rummaged through the kitchen.
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK -- After last month's fatal grizzly attack in Yellowstone National Park, visitor safety has been a top priority. But after a video was sent to NBC Montana by videographer Jim Bolser showing people taking photos just feet away from a bear, it's clear some visitors aren't being very cautious.
"I started telling the little kids and the people that they should not be standing that close, told them to get back in their cars and people just coming up with cameras and getting closer," Bolser said.
Conservation officers shot another bear in Whistler this week after the animal entered several homes in the Whistler Cay neighbourhood.
The incident brings the total of black bears killed so far this year because of conflict with humans to six. And with a poor berry crop so far this summer, conflict activity is expected to continue in the valley, said Sgt. Chris Doyle of the Conservation Officer Service.
Bear attacks are rare but it's best to be safe, says Dan LeGrandeur, who develops bear conflict management plans and teaches bear aversion techniques to emergency personnel and resource workers in B.C. and Alberta.
"Unless you have a lot of interactions with bears, there's all sorts of pre-conceived ideas that they are man-eaters, which is not true," said LeGrandeur, a former B.C. Conservation Officer who used to work in the Tri-Cities and now lives in Alberta and operates Bear Scare.
Don’t underestimate the power of your story. And remember…. the public responds to individuals; they have trouble relating to populations. Even broad and generic terms are difficult to relate to. It’s better to promote your cause through the life and challenges of one bear, who has a name, a family, friends, alliances, rivals and things to do each day. Because bears are actually not that unlike us. Find the similarities and invite people to become a part of their lives.
With grizzly bears and people coming closer and closer to one another in the front country of Grand Teton National Park, officials have refined their guidelines as to how close people can be to wildlife.
The need for the revisions arose as more and more visitors took to the roofs of their vehicles to photograph bears and, in at least two instances, the bears took exception and charged the vehicles, according to park officials.
Black bears are undeniably a part of the Whistler scene and are beloved by locals and tourists alike. Unfortunately, they're also the source of frustration for some, most notably the conservation officers who are forced to deal with the animals when the get into conflict with humans.
Most of the time these conflicts are not the fault of the animal but rather people who were careless in how they went about securing potential bear attractants such as garbage and bird feeders.
Strawberry Point, a popular camping area north of Pemberton, will remain closed for the long weekend if a troublesome black bear has not been captured or moved on in time, conservation officers said this week.
“We’ve had a bear there that’s been extremely aggressive and approached campers for food,” Sgt. Chris Doyle of the Conservation Officer Service, said Wednesday (July 27). “It’s totally lost its fear of people and has received food rewards from campsites and has repeatedly approached people for food and tried to chase people out of their sites in order to look for food.
CTV Ottawa News' Leanne interviews, Martyn Obbart, Steve Herrero and Steven Amstrup at the International Bear Association Conference. Watch three segments here.
VANCOUVER -- Human-bear conflicts are down so far this year, government statistics show, despite recent headlines that might lead you to believe otherwise.
Over the last three weeks a series of incidents in B.C. has left one Lillooet-area woman dead from a black bear attack, one man seriously injured after being attacked by a grizzly bear at Rivers Inlet, a jogger attacked by a black bear near Mount Seymour and one North Vancouver woman terrified after a black bear attacked her dog and tried to force its way into her home.
The provincial government is warning people not to stop to view black bears after an attack in Labrador.
A woman driving between Churchill Falls and Happy Valley-Goose Bay was bitten, after a black bear got its head into her vehicle through an open window.
The first thing to know about bears is they are unpredictable. There is no sure way to survive a bear attack, whether it's a grizzly or a black bear, although the lighter-coloured, humped grizzly is bigger and generally more aggressive.
The safest option, of course, is avoiding an attack altogether. Making noise when you're hiking in the wilderness is a good start, whether you talk loudly, clap your hands or call out, giving a bear you haven't yet seen a chance to retreat
The terrible spring weather has at least made the bears happy.
While humans may complain about the delayed summer, B.C. right now has a healthy bear population - with the wet and cool spring considered to be one of the prime reasons.
The unseasonable spring has created an ideal habitat for both the black bears and the grizzlies around the province, points out bear expert Jacques Drisdelle.
Let's talk trash. Specifically, yours. What do you do with it? How do you get rid of it? Do you smuggle it on the bus to get it to the nearest dumpster you can find?
Maybe you work hard every day, sorting, cleaning and composting everything that can be diverted from the landfill (good job!). Do you stash it in your garage until it emits perfume de bear-come-'n'-get-me? Leave it sitting outside your recently built new-and-improved bear-proof garbage shed when you forget your key? At the bus stop partially stuffed into the already overflowing bin, essentially baiting a bear into your 'hood?
It has been a busy week or so for black bear activity and other wildlife in Whistler, with conservation officers making the decision to kill the first bear of the season because it entered a home in Alta Vista. Other recent bear-human encounters included two other home invasions, a bear raiding golf bags at a local course and a cub hit and killed by a vehicle on Highway 99.
A cougar sighting was also reported in Spring Creek last Wednesday (June 22).
It was a large, adult male black bear that conservation officers trapped and shot last Wednesday after it entered an Alta Vista home while two people were inside. The previous day (June 21), the bear went “deep into the house and into the kitchen” where it found food, said Chris Doyle, conservation officer.
CHEYENNE - A grizzly bear clan famous for its frequent roadside appearances in Grand Teton National Park is keeping park rangers especially busy this summer tending to tourist critter jams.
The cubs are cute - no question about that - but a female grizzly with cubs happens to be one of the most dangerous animals in North America. And this Grand Teton clan has a history: One attacked a hiker, another was shot and killed by a hunter.
I first observed Jeanie out of the den on May 21 with two black cubs on Whistler Mountain.
The twenty-year-old mom then had at least one aggressive encounter with a coyote and two aggressive encounters with large male bears.
Coyotes have been known to sneak up to small spring cubs to kill them for food although I've never seen them be successful. Male bears pose the more serious threat to spring cubs killing them to force the mothers back into the breeding cycle. The last time I saw Jeanie with two cubs was on May 24. On May 26, Sylvia Dolson of the Get Bear Smart Society saw her with only one cub during the Toonie Bike Race in the lower Bike Park. Both mom and cub were treed and appeared agitated.
Wildlife officials are concerned that black bears coming out of hibernation are showing up in alarming numbers along the Sea to Sky Highway near Whistler, B.C.
Part of the problem is clover planted on the roadside when the highway was expanded before the 2010 Olympics. Bear experts say the animals love clover and will brave fast-moving traffic to get it.
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