Once in awhile opportunities come along to do the right thing. A death is usually a time when you ponder life and make decisions about how and why a life was lived. Likely with the exception of a few, most people in Whistler have already moved on and forgotten Jeanie, one of Whistler's most photographed and celebrated bears, killed by Conservation officers a few weeks back.

I think the troubling thing is that over the winter when the bears are asleep everyone will forget why she was killed. She was destroyed, as are many other bears every year, because she was repeatedly and consistently able to access waste and human food within the RMOW.

Jeanie is really just a name given to a bear that lived on Whistler Mountain most of her life but she represents a relationship problem that has gone on in the resort for years. When food is scarce and bears in the area get hungry, we see bear-traps springing up everywhere and a conservation service that can't keep up with the demand.

Well here is a new thought to consider: As a manager or owner of a business, when you decide to call the conservation service to bring in a trap to move a bear why don't you take a moment to reflect on these three things: 1.Why am I trapping a bear for a problem I created? 2.Where and how is a bear accessing my food waste? 3.How can this be fixed and 4.How fast can I fix it?

Trapping a bear that accesses your restaurant, house or building is not a solution to the problem. If a bears enters your building one year, another will come in another year and if we kill and move all of Whistler's bears it will eventually just become a sad place where we tell people, "Oh, yeah there used to be bears here but we killed them all."

There are many countries in Europe and the U.K. where this is true and now these countries are trying desperately to bring the wild animals back.

They fly all the way to Canada to see wild animals and experience what "nature" really is. Therefore, my solution to the issue of bears breaking into our establishments is as such. Over the winter while the bears are asleep, think about doing the following:

1. Reinforce your garbage areas to the extent that a bear cannot access them "ever." (Yes this costs money, but so does replacing destroyed kitchens, doors and walls from bear break-ins)

2. Train all staff on keeping doors closed and locked when necessary to the same extent.

3. If you see a bear in your neighbourhood, don't just take pictures - refer to the first two solutions immediately and acutely. Finally, if you are looking for a better reason to follow this advice you can look to the current enforceable Whistler bylaw that carries fines for allowing wildlife to access garbage.

We have the opportunity to either keep bears alive in Whistler or become just another place that can't co- exist with wildlife and the time is ripe to make the right choice.

Kathy Jenkins, Pemberton