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Bear activity a concern in Port Coquitlam

Bears making their way from forest, to blueberry fields to PoCo neighbourhoods

It’s blueberry season and that is good news for people as well as bears.

But while u-pickers are welcome, bears who eat and run are causing problems, resulting in more complaints to the BC Conservation Officer Service.

“We recommend farmers of any of those crops become bear smart,” Sgt. Todd Hunter told the Tri-City News. "They can even contact [the BC Conservation Foundation's] WildSafeBC and they can help them out."

One quick fix would be electric fencing in agricultural areas of Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam, with the investment paying off in less than a year, he said. Todd said a Pitt Meadows farmer recently spent $35,000 on electric fencing that prevented $40,000 in crop damage in the first few months of the year.

Among the areas frequented by bruins for berries are Fremont Street and Oliver Road, where bears have been seen snacking, he said.

Unfortunately, once bears get used to eating blueberries, they begin to move through the city, turning to human garbage left unsecured, bird seed and other attractants.

Consequently, calls are up, with 2017 edging towards a record year for bear complaints.

In PoCo, there have been 568 bear calls already this year, compared to 961 for all of last year. Port Moody has had triple the number of complaints — 301 so far, compared to 71 for all of 2016.

Coquitlam is the bright spot, said Hunter, because while there have been 726 bear complaints, the trend is down, compared to 1,836 for all of 2016.

“Last year, Coquitlam became a Bear Smart community, they did a ton of proactive enforcement. You can see it’s having quite a bit of an effect and the cities that are not doing as much, the numbers are fairly high.”

Meanwhile, Anmore has been relatively quiet with 17 bear calls so far this year, compared to 58 for 2016, while neighbouring Belcarra has had 28 bear calls so far in 2017, compared to 26 for all of last year.
“Some of the bears that were not managed or removed [last year] are a problem,” Hunter said.

As well, bears that have come down the mountain to feed on berries, then turn to garbage are a problem that has to be dealt with, he said, noting residents need to take more responsibility while cities may need to do additional education and enforcement.

“We want some success like we have with Coquitlam — a reduction of calls — otherwise it goes from spot fire to spot fire.”

• In your neighbourhood: A number of calls and photos have been coming in about a female bear and two cubs in Coquitlam's Canyon Springs subdivision (near Walton elementary school). Conservation officers say the family is active but hasn't been showing aggressive or threatening behaviour toward people. Sgt. Hunter said his team has more dangerous complaints to deal with.

Also, check out this video by Steve Kazemir that was taken July 23 in the Kilmer Park area of Port Coquitlam.