Kimberley may think that it is ‘Bear Aware.’  Sadly, however, there are still those out there who just don’t understand the link between improperly stored garbage and ‘problem bears.’

There are still some residents in Kimberley who absolutely refuse to manage their garbage. They refuse to make the effort to walk to the shed to lock up their garbage. They throw their stinky diapers into a bin just out the door. And then when a bear shows up – they call the Conservation Officers and demand that this dangerous bear (that keeps ripping apart their garbage) be destroyed.

And many people in town won’t call in to the RAPP line to report a bear sighting because they think the bear will be destroyed. In reality it would be awesome if people would call in before there is a problem.

Report where garbage is being mismanaged. Report where the bears are. In many cases, we can avoid making problem bears.

When a human food-conditioned bear is destroyed, it will be replaced by another ‘problem bear’ unless the garbage is cleaned up. Garbage is a bucket of bear food and more bears will come to feed unless the garbage is removed.

A bear trap was set up last week in town to trap a bear that had broken into a shed within an hour of the trap being set.  There were complaints from several sources – “it wasn’t the bear that should be punished, it was the resident that has been leaving his garbage out every day and letting the bear access it.”

The night the bear broke into the shed was the first night that the garbage was locked up. Bears are smart. This bear had been coming back night after night to the same house.  When the garbage wasn’t laid out for him he went and got it. The resident then called to complain about property damage.

In another area of town, a dumpster was repeatedly left open. This resulted in a bear being destroyed. The users of this bin did not learn their lesson and the bin was again left open for another bear to feed – to become human food conditioned. The bins are now kept locked after some education. Success story, right?  Sorry. Once that food source dried up, the bear – who decided that garbage was food – has been breaking into buildings to get at garbage.  He is much more aggressive now in his search for garbage.  He most likely will be destroyed.

And though there are other stories, my final story for today is one of a young bear cub who managed to climb into an unlocked dumpster. The sow had been teaching her two cubs how to “hunt” for garbage. They had been reported by residents several times. This time, the cub couldn’t climb out of the dumpster. The sow was outside the bin trying to call her cub – this was a dangerous situation taking place in a residential area.

The Conservation Officer assessed the situation when he arrived and found that his only option was to destroy this human food-conditioned cub. The bears were human food-conditioned because of careless storage of garbage.

Did you know that the City of Canmore has had no bear/garbage related incidents in the 12 years since switching over to  bear-resistant garbage bins?

We live in bear country – please be Bear Aware.

Bear Aware would like to remind the public to please report all bear sightings to the RAPP at 1-877-952-7277.

Kimberley Bear Aware can be reached by calling Shaunna McInnis at 250-520-0411, by e-mail at [email protected] or by visiting us on Facebook at Kimberley Bear Aware.

Bear Aware is a community education program owned by the British Columbia Conservation Foundation. Bear Aware’s mission statement is “to reduce conflict between people and bears with education, communication and innovation.”

Kimberley Bear Aware gratefully acknowledges financial support of; The Columbia Basin Trust, The City of Kimberley, the Regional District of East Kootenay and The Ministry of Environment.

Bear Aware strives to reduce human-bear conflict in communities through public education. Kimberley Bear Aware achieves its objective when bears that enter the city of Kimberley leave without foraging or lingering in town. Bear Aware educates the public in attractant management. The program and its volunteers work with: government, community groups, schools, and local businesses to reduce available in-town food items. The reduction of bear attractants will decrease the number of habituated and human food-conditioned bears in our communities.

Shaunna McInnis, Kimberley Bear Aware Program Coordinator. Call (250) 520-0411 or write to: [email protected].

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