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Whistler's Bear Aware coordinator is issuing a plea to local residents, business operators and visitors to increase efforts to secure garbage and other attractants, as local bears have been getting into garbage and even eating Halloween pumpkins in an effort to gain weight for winter.
An adult female grizzly bear was shot and killed on Saturday after charging a pair of Kalispell elk hunters and injuring one of them near the Continental Divide about four miles south of Marias Pass on U.S. Highway 2.
Anthony Willits, 31, and Gregory Louden, 29, had earlier in the day shot a bull elk, taken out a portion of the meat, and were returning to the carcass when they encountered the sow and two cubs.
The men reported that as the sow grizzly charged them they shot it once before it bit Willits in the lower left leg below the knee. Louden shot the bear three more times, killing it.
A poor food supply combined with more public awareness has translated into more complaints about black bears across B.C., but fewer euthanized and relocated bears.
There were nearly 17,600 complaints about problem black bears this past spring and summer, according to data provided to The Sun by the B.C. Ministry of Environment. In 2010, there were 17,625 calls. In both years, the number of calls far exceeded the 15-year average of 12,550.
Dear Editor,
RE: "No punchline to 'A bear walks into a pizza shop...,'" Question Editorial, Oct. 6.
I am the Bear Aware community coordinator for Whistler. I would like to commend Ms. Miller on her excellent editorial from Oct. 6.
The opinion piece highlights the severe consequences possible both to the bear and to the community as a result of the black bear wandering into Fat Tony's Pizza. Her editorial does a great job of describing the extreme level of habituation exhibited by the bear, and the lack of public education surrounding the incident.
Meanwhile bear calls continue to come in. On Oct.16 a black bear had to be euthanized after it was wounded by a vehicle near Function Junction.
The bear was found by a walker, and it made no attempt to stand up. The conservation officer service was called to dispatch the bear.
In July, a grizzly defending her cubs attacked a couple hiking in Yellowstone National Park, it killing the man.
Again in Yellowstone, a man hiking alone was fatally mauled by a grizzly bear in August. In September, a Montana black bear hunter was attacked by a grizzly bear he mistakenly wounded. The guy's hunting partner tried to save him but ended up shooting and killing him.
Three bear cubs are learning to live without their mother, who was shot by conservation officers after the foursome was found foraging for food in a Coquitlam schoolyard last week. The nine-month-old cubs are now adjusting to their temporary home at Critter Care Wildlife Society in Langley.
Ketchikan - Shoppers in a grocery store in Alaska were in for a shock when a young black bear cub walked through the automatic doors into the store, then climbed onto the produce display looking for a way to escape the excitement.
Brian Hubkey of Carson Valley, Nev., sees the chance to stalk a bear with a bow and arrow as an opportunity for outdoor adventure he can share with his family.
"If we're successful, great. If not, so be it," Hubkey says of Nevada's first legal hunt for black bears.
He and others are on the hunt for bears in Nevada's mountains, now that the state has become the latest to establish a bear hunting season.
GREAT FALLS - An increasing grizzly bear population is expanding east from the Rocky Mountain Front in western Montana as individual bears discover that the plains contain abundant food, a grizzly bear expert says.
Mike Madel of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks said some bears appear to have discovered that food sources are better on the plains than in the mountains. He noted that in the past young bears trying to make it on their own were showing up on the plains, but now there are adult females that are passing their knowledge to their cubs.
Only one of three newborn polar bears was still clinging to life in the intensive-care unit of the Toronto Zoo on Thursday, after his two siblings succumbed to injuries inflicted by their mother.
Zoo workers are struggling to keep the tiny cub alive, born prematurely on Tuesday and then rejected by its mother, 10-year-old Aurora.
A former Canmore author came to town to shed light on what he sees as the way forward for grizzly bears in the area.
Jeff Gailus author of the Grizzly Manifesto and, a forthcoming title, Little Black Lies, spoke to the role that he sees for Parks Canada, given what he characterized as an ineffective effort by the province of Alberta to protect its bears.
Vacation homeowners in Elkford, B.C., have been asked to search for white bear fur that may have caught on their decks or trees, to help scientists discover the genetic secrets of three white bear cubs seen in the town this fall.
Residents are also being urged to clear their garbage and fruit trees to stop the rare bears becoming hooked on human food sources.
A new online map is giving people in Kamloops a way to keep tabs on bears making their way into the city.
The map shows all bear sightings reported to conservation officers over the past two weeks, as well as the food sources that lured the animals into the city.
SUPERIOR, Wis. (AP) - Police say a man has been hospitalized after being mauled by a bear in the southern edge of Superior.
The Duluth News Tribune reports Superior police officers were called to the southern edge of town on a report of a mauling about 8 p.m. Saturday.
Police say the man was with a female hunting partner who had set up over some bait, hoping to take a deer, when the bear appeared. The man tried to chase it off, but the animal turned on him.
As if Whistler's resident black bears didn't already have huge challenges ahead this fall, an international media circus last week only served to trivialize the animals' plight and fuel public ignorance.
Reporters from Vancouver, across Canada, into the U.S. and as far away as the U.K. delighted in the story of a bear wandering into Whistler's Fat Tony's Pizza and eating several pies while onlookers shot video and laughed at the scene.
Chloe O'Loughlin is welcoming the B.C. Liberal government's "huge announcement" that it plans to legislate a ban on mining and oil and gas development in the Flathead River Valley.
But the Vancouver-based environmentalist cautions that the move is just a "good first step", as more needs to be done to ensure the area in the province's southeastern corner is protected.
After years of actively working towards making Whistler visitors and residents more bear smart, as well as taking steps to make the town more bear proof, this week Whistler was recognized by the provincial government as one of only four "Bear Smart" communities in B.C.
Joining Squamish and Kamloops, the first two communities accepted into the program in 2009, Whistler and Lions Bay received the designation from B.C.'s Minister of Environment Terry Lake on Thursday (Sept. 29).
CALGARY - Some of the world's foremost bear experts are looking at new ways to prevent grizzlies from getting killed along railway tracks inside Banff National Park.
A dozen bears have been killed and a half dozen cubs orphaned in the last decade and experts estimate there are now only between 45 and 60 grizzlies left in the park.
Last year, Alberta reclassified the species as threatened because of rapidly dwindling numbers.
Local black bear researchers are predicting a wave of increased bear activity in the Village and valley this fall due to the worst berry crop Whistler has seen in almost two decades.
Experts are pleading with locals to be extra careful by safely disposing of garbage, not having bird feeders, keeping dog food inside and keeping areas around the house clean.
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