From Florida to northern British Columbia (and almost everywhere in between), bears and people are living cheek-to-jowl, leading to increasing levels of conflict.
In a gated community near Orlando, David Amsler went outside to investigate some noise behind his garage. Expecting racoons, he took a golf club with him to help scare them off. When he arrived, however, he found a black bear sow and her cubs rumaging through his garbage cans for supper. She charged him, "growling and hissing," though he was able to fend her off. This was only the latest in a rash of human-bear conflicts in his neighbourhood.
In western North Carolina, black bears have been "into everything," and reports have gone from two or three 20 years ago to three or four hundred in recent years.
International media attention has focused on Aspen, where a berry shortage has forced bears into one of the wealthiest communities in North America, even breaking into the odd McMansion in search of food.
In northern B.C., nearly 200 bears were killed by conservation officers after coming into communities in search of food. In Prince George alone, an average of 47 bears are destroyed every year.
It's the same in Alberta, Ontario, even Harvard. And the common denominator is that more and more people are living in bear habitat — and they're not securing their garbage and other bear attractants. The problem in other words,"isn't the bears, the problem is the people. So, it's actually like a human management program," said Taylor Bachrach, a Telkwa, B.C. Councillor. "If we can reduce human negligence, then we can also reduce the number of bears that get killed, and I think that's a good thing. Bears are part of what makes living here unique."
The answer in almost every case, no matter what part of North America you live in, is securing your bear attractants. As our cities and towns grow, and bears are focred to share their habitat with more and more people, we will need to BearSmart our communities.
Some people, at least, are learning the lesson. David Amsler, for one, plans to keep his garbage locked up until collection day.
Click here to learn more about how to bear-proof your home, business and community.
