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All Whistler Articles
A growing unease about the increase in bears being killed and injured on the Sea to Sky Highway, as well as traffic safety concerns relating to copious "bear jams," has prompted further investigation by the Get Bear Smart Society, along with the many members of the Whistler Black Bear Working Group.
While both organizations have been integral to reducing human-bear conflict in and around Whistler for many years, the main focus of the group has been public education with respect to securing attractants and bear proofing the waste management system. This new phenomena is cause for significant concern among the stakeholders.
If you go out in the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise. A teddy bear picnic it is not, as local [black]bear populations rise from a winter of hibernation to a poor berry yield. Though fewer berries doesn't mean a higher chance of attack, it does indicate bears will be roaming closer to roads and garbage sources in search of food.
New data released in a report of the Journal of Wildlife Management this month confirms previous information that 88 per cent of fatal [black] bear attacks in Canada and the U.S. are the result of predatory behaviour of a male black bear.
Every spring for the past 11 years, Samson has returned to feed in the same small area in the Whistler Valley.
As the largest of the male black bears identified by bear researcher Michael Allen, Samson doesn't have an ear tag (used by Conservation Officers to track conflict history) and has no known history of serious conflict, making him a perfect example of a bear co-existing healthily with humans.
The season's first report of human-bear conflict came after a man was barreled over by a bear early Friday morning (April 29) near Whistler Village.
The man reported running into the bear at about 2 a.m. on the Valley Trail between Blueberry and the Village near the Whistler Golf Club. The animal knocked him down to the ground and swatted him a few times, Sgt. Chris Doyle of the B.C. Conservation Officer Service said Monday (May 2).
Apr 19, 2011 — Web Page: Got Garbage?
No vehicle to get to the compactor site? Find out how to get rid of your garbage.
I could just the make out the coarse tips of brown hair. My head was twisted tightly down to the left as the weight of my body crammed my head and shoulders deeper into the snow. If a skier or snowboarder happened by it would definitely look like I was head first in a tree well...which I kind of was. Any slight movement and I kept losing the only view deep inside the bear's hollowed lair.
I found this newly constructed bear den last October and did not linger in case I left human scent. I made note of the large crack above the entrance where I could possibly peek in later during winter
Despite what seems like the renewal of winter this week, Whistler residents are being asked to prepare for the awakening of the local black bear population.
The emergence from hibernation comes at the same time the municipality has received funding to hire a Bear Aware community coordinator for Whistler. This is the fifth year that the B.C. Conservation Foundation has subsidized a community coordinator position in Whistler.
Council hasn't gone far enough to protect humans and animals from crossbows in Whistler's recreational areas, according to one concerned citizen.
Sylvia Dolson said the bylaw amendment passed at Tuesday's council meeting to ban bow hunting from Emerald Estates to Function Junction including municipal parks such as Lost Lake and the Whistler Interpretive Forest, isn't good enough.
"Mayor and council failed the residents of Whistler by not including some important recreation sites and trails (in the bylaw change)," said a disappointed Dolson after the meeting.
The author tested the efficacy of aversive conditioning (AC) and conditioned taste aversion (CTA) on American black bears (Ursus americanus) in Whistler, British Columbia. The study used AC (rubber bullets fired from a shotgun and marbles fired from a sling shot) in an attempt to increase bear wariness toward humans and decrease the time bears spend in human developments. Thiabendazole, an emetic with low toxicity, was used to teach bears to associate illness with specific attractants that cause human-bear conflict.
The Get Bear Smart Society is working to record — and reduce — the number of wildlife deaths on regional highways.
Dawn Johnson, project coordinator for the society, explained that although there were 10 confirmed bear deaths on local highways in 2010, the number might be much higher. The society is putting out a call to the public to report any past incidents of vehicle collisions with animals.
Top 10 Quirky bear happenings for 2010: A year in review
From fending off a black bear with a zucchini to amazing photos of a grizzly chasing a fire charred bison, 2010 has been a year of quirky bear happenings, including a live cam set up to view Lily the bear giving birth to Hope in Ely, Minnesota.
Nine bears destroyed, 10 more killed in vehicle accidents
Bears breaking into homes! Drunks chasing bears up trees! Bears stealing groceries!
It's been a busy year for the Conservation Officers Service - which only has four people working the entire Sea to Sky region - which has seen the number of bear deaths and human-bear conflicts rise since 2009.
No bears were killed last year; nine have been destroyed in 2010, mostly for entering people's homes.
Another 10 bears have been killed in vehicular accidents this year. The Conservation Officer Service has received just over 800 calls in 2010 so far, and had made about 185 responses.
Community members and black bear advocates continued the discussion about local bears and Whistler's garbage disposal system at an open house held Wednesday (Dec. 1) at the library.
Waste disposal for residents without cars was a focus of the session, with attendees brainstorming ideas. Garbage-disposal carpooling, disposing of waste at work, increased composting, larger numbers of household garbage disposal units, educating newcomers and using a bus to access the two compactor sites were suggested.
The same bear that was tranquilized and removed from a tree behind the Marketplace B.C. Liquor Store on Nov. 17 has been euthanized following further conflict, officials confirmed Tuesday (Nov. 23).
“It had been around the Village for a couple of weeks and was given a relocation with the hope that it would go to den and not come back to the Village area,” said Sgt. Chris Doyle of the B.C. Conservation Officer Service (COS). “It did return to the Village area a couple days later and it was re-captured.”
A crowd of some 60 people watched on Wednesday (Nov. 17) watched as conservation officers, police and fire crews tranquilized and relocated a bear from a tree behind the B.C. Liquor Store in Marketplace.
It wasn't the first time this year that such action was necessary in that location. A few weeks back, a similar incident occurred - with a similar-sized crowd on hand to watch. Clearly, Whistler residents and resort guests have a keen interest in the local bear population, and given the chance, most of us would change our daily routines to ensure their protection.
Re: Sylvia Dolson's letter to the editor (Get Bear Smart, Pique Oct. 14)
I fully appreciate Dolson's concern for our local bears and support her goals of preventing their habituation to human activity and their deaths as a result. However, I am concerned that some of the solutions proposed at various public meetings, namely neighbourhood waste collection bins, come at the price of other sustainability goals.
Waste collection in the neighbourhoods will increase our municipal costs, and at what benefit? One estimate for a subsidized trial was $80,000 for one neighbourhood and it may not solve our bear attractant issues.
I like to walk the Valley Trail around Whistler Golf Course, usually you'll see me out there twice a day enjoying myself. Whistler Golf Course has graciously opened its pathway to the public now that they have closed for the season, with a few obvious requests, the most obvious is that you leash your bloody dog.
This morning (Friday) I was out for a walk, again, and again some buffoon was out walking his two dogs, one small black dog and the other a black and white long haired sheep-type dog, off leash. The dogs were harassing every squirrel as they made their way along the path and the owner was completely ignoring their abusive behaviour towards the wildlife.
The B.C. Ministry of Environment has suggested the Village of Pemberton work toward becoming a Bear Smart community as per a provincial conservation program, Pemberton council revealed at its Tuesday (Nov. 2) meeting.
A report released Tuesday looking at ways the community can reduce human-bear conflicts stated the ministry's large carnivore specialist, Tony Hamilton, made the recommendation to the Village, which would need to meet a set of criteria to officially become a Bear Smart community.
The fall season is always a tough one for local bears with berry crops disappearing but no snow yet to force hibernation. Human/bear conflicts are common and sometimes result in the death of bears that have turned to human food and present a danger to the public.
Yet that wasn't the case Thursday, Oct. 14. The RCMP got a call in the early afternoon that a bear had been treed between the Marketplace and Whistler Health Care Centre. Someone had chased the bear after it attempted to enter the underground parking area at the clinic.
Just south of Function (past the overpass for the railway tracks) on the right hand side of the road (heading south), there is a little section of the old highway that people are continually driving into to get a better look at the little bear that feeds there.
Yesterday there were two cars parked there with the people outside of their vehicle and the one couple even had their dog outside the vehicle as well. This is total disregard for the poor little bear and it made me very angry. Unfortunately I was on my way to work heading northbound and therefore couldn't turn across the highway to speak to these people.
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