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Wyoming bear managers say so far this year they’ve captured a record number of grizzly bears due to conflicts, many of which involved livestock depredations.
The news comes after researchers reported a marginal whitebark pine seed crop for the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
Wyoming Game and Fish Department bear personnel have captured bears on 38 occasions as of Aug. 27, according to information gathered from weekly updates and press releases on the department’s website. Those captures occurred in Wyoming but outside Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks.
Bow hunting season began Sept. 1 and there's no bylaw to prohibit crossbows in Whistler.
The issue was raised in council in August but any actions that may be taken to curb bow hunting within municipal boundaries won't be made until at least October.
Heather Beresford, environmental stewardship manager for the Resort Municipality of Whistler, who is in charge of the report, said she's keeping an open mind and not necessarily jumping to the conclusion that a bylaw regulating bow hunting is the only option.
Recently, there has been a strong focus on improving and creating wildlife habitat in our backyards and green spaces. Wildscaping undoubtedly has positive ecological value, but in the Whistler area, improving wildlife habitat can also mean attracting bears.
While bears are a part of Whistler’s natural environment, enticing them close to our homes either with landscaping that provides food for bears or other food sources such as garbage or bird seed can create conflict and be detrimental not just for bears, but for the community as well.
As summer winds down and bears rush to pack on the pounds before hibernation, at least a few ursines have exhibited unusually aggressive behavior.
Director of Bear Smart Durango Bryan Peterson said unprovoked, aggressive behavior is unusual for black bears, but it's not unheard of.
A recent pair of incidents were reported in which bears exhibited this type of behavior, both taking place in the heart of Durango.
Wildlife officials in Canmore, Alta., say fewer bear sightings in the past week mean their efforts have been paying off.
Several residents had reported seeing grizzly bears in town in recent weeks.
Since then, officers have been cutting down berry bushes in the area and have set several traps.
"We're going to be continuing that control work in the next week or so," said Darcy Whiteside, of the province's Sustainable Resource Development department.
Conservation officer Simon Gravel confirms that there are at least two bears on Bowen. One has an ear tag, the other doesn’t, and there were two bear sightings five minutes apart in different neighbourhoods.
There are still plans to trap and translocate at least one of the bears because it’s become more comfortable with humans. Conservation officers are also often on the island trying to predict where the bear(s) will be, which makes the public’s co-operation essential. Please call 1-877-952-7277 every time you see a bear so they can track their movements. However, the municipality and RCMP do not need to be contacted unless there is a perceived threat or danger.
Police and conservation officers are investigating an incident involving the death of a bear at the hands of a Pemberton resident who admitted shooting it with a crossbow within municipal boundaries.
Police were called to a home on Dogwood Street in the Pemberton Benchlands on Saturday (Aug. 21) at around 9 p.m., Whistler RCMP Staff Sgt. Steve LeClair said. A resident had heard a “strange cry” and then spotted a dead bear in her backyard, he said.
N. Conway Man Says He Startled Bear When He Threw Trash In Bin
NORTH CONWAY, N.H. -- A North Conway man needed 16 stitches after an encounter with a Dumpster-diving black bear during the weekend.
Jeff Allard said he was taking out the trash at his apartment complex Sunday night and didn't notice a bear rummaging inside the trash bin. Allard said he tossed his trash into the bin, startling the bear.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A declawed, defanged bear is chained to a stake as hunting dogs bark and snap, trying to force the bear to stand on its hind legs. The training exercise called bear baying is intended to make the bears easier to shoot in the wild and it's only allowed in South Carolina.
Armed with new undercover video of four such events, the Humane Society of the United States is pressuring state officials to explicitly outlaw the practice, which the organization says is effectively banned in every other state. Animal rights advocates say it's cruel to the nearly defenseless bears and harms them psychologically.
Yellowstone's grizzlies are going to be particularly hungry this fall, and that means more dangerous meetings with humans in a year that is already the area's deadliest on record.
Scientists report that a favorite food of many bears, nuts from whitebark pine cones, is scarce. So as grizzlies look to put on some major pounds in preparation for the long winter ahead, scientists say, they will be looking for another source of protein — meat — and running into trouble along the way.
Three bears spotted in Peaks of Grassi
A spate of grizzly bear activity in a Canmore neighbourhood has wildlife officials warning residents to bear-proof their homes.
Grizzly bears have been spotted mere metres from houses, eating buffalo berries, dogwood and other food in yards adjacent to the Peaks of Grassi community, a wildlife corridor.
Some berry-laden bushes -- prime bear food -- are growing directly behind and in between homes in the neighbourhood.
A black bear cub who became affectionately known as "jarhead" after a plastic container got stuck on its head can eat and drink again after experts removed it.
The clear container was removed from the six-month-old cub's head after it had been wedged on for at least 10 days. The cub poked its head into the jar when digging through rubbish in a central Florida neighbourhood.
Trampling car hoods and breaking into houses, bears have been at it again this summer in Durango . But city officials say a new law is doing some good in reducing the food available in town.
Bear Smart Durango's Bryan Peterson said foraging bears have calmed since this month's monsoons helped sprout new natural food outside town. But it was a crazy June and July.
Download brochures and flyers for home, play or your business. These are specifically designed for Whistler residents, businesses and visitors.
Anchorage police said they shot and killed a black bear and two cubs at a Stuckagain Heights home after the animals broke in last week and tried again twice on Saturday.
Police said they shot the sow on a back doorstep of the smaller of two houses on the property at about noon Saturday as it was clawing at the door. Officers then shot one cub while it was on the roof and a second while it was on a deck. A third escaped into the woods.
Busy July for bear calls closes with yearling getting into Riverside tent
The weekend took its toll on Whistler's bear population, as two more were killed on Saturday and Sunday (July 31 and Aug. 1) — one destroyed after breaking into a tent at the Riverside Campground, and the other dead after being hit by a car.
A busy July for bear calls ended with the destruction of the tent-invading bear on Saturday. Dave Jevons of the B.C. Conservation Officer Service said a female yearling that had a history of a high level of conflict around the Village broke into a tent at Riverside, and got into some food and toiletries.
“I heard a noise in the carport and I thought it was a dog. When I went to check it turned out to be a bear, about 12 feet away, going through the garbage. I was shocked.”
On July 22 Phillip van Niekirk experienced a bear “interaction” at his home in North Vancouver. In this case, the animal entered his carport.
A resident of Whistler, B.C., wants crossbow hunting banned in the municipality after learning that it's legal to use the weapons to hunt bears within the resort community's boundaries.
Sylvia Dolson opposes bear hunting and says it's just a matter of time before a person becomes a victim of a crossbow.
"Safety is a major concern," Dolson told CBC News. "We have all kinds of parks, hiking trails, biking trails."
BILLINGS — A grizzly bear that preyed on three campers outside Yellowstone National Park was underweight but not starving, and it was in an area with ample natural food supplies, wildlife officials said Monday as they worked to figure out why the animal attacked.
With the necropsy on the female grizzly still being analyzed, officials had no explanation for what caused the bear to rampage through a campground Wednesday with cubs in tow.
COOKE CITY, Mont. — At least one bear rampaged through a heavily occupied campground Wednesday near Yellowstone National Park in the middle of the night, killing one person and injuring two others during a terrifying attack that forced people to hide in their cars as an animal tore through tents.
Authorities said three separate attacks left a male dead and a woman and another male injured at the Soda Butte campground. The woman suffered severe lacerations and crushed bones from bites on her arms, and the surviving male was bitten on his calf.
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