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.

The bear, which had been previously tagged, had been captured earlier this year and relocated a short distance away from the Village, but it returned and wound up getting into the tent on Saturday. Jevons said the bear was still on the scene when conservation officers arrived, and it had to be destroyed based on its past history and its behaviour at the campground.

The tent's owners weren't around when the bear broke in — they had gone into the Village — but they were fined $100 by Riverside campground operators for breaking policies about keeping campsites clean and leaving food around, Jevons said.

Conservation officers have the tent owners' contact information and will be following up with them, he added, but the officers didn't have much time to spend at the scene — they had received three bear calls in five minutes.

Other calls involved a bear that had been hit by a motorcycle south of Pemberton — the bear was fine, though the motorcycle driver was in rough shape after skidding out in the fall and leaving the bike before hitting the bear, Jevons said — and a bear breaking into cars around the Pemberton fire base.

“July was definitely a busy month,” Jevons said. He had previously linked the upsurge in activity to a weak berry crop and easy availability of non-natural food, and reminded local residents to keep doors and windows closed.

Sunday saw the new month begin with another bear death, as an immature male bear was hit by a vehicle on Highway 99 just south of Brandywine Falls late in the morning. The badly injured bear had to be euthanized, Jevons said, but it wasn't a tagged bear and it had no previous history with conservation officers.

During July 2010, conservation officers received 154 calls regarding black bears in Whistler, which Jevons said is significantly higher than the same month last year.