The B.C. Conservation Officer Service is making a plea to Tri-City residents living on or near greenbelts and forests to take extra precautions with their garbage and green waste.
Insp. Murray Smith made the appeal as he fielded calls about a family of three bears — a sow and two yearling bears that were killed by conservation officers in the Panorama Drive area of Port Moody early Thursday morning.
"It's really important that the public do their part," said Smith, noting that this is the time of year when bruins start looking for food and will come into neighborhoods if they can smell human trash.
Once the bruins get hooked, they tend to stick around, and last year six bruins were destroyed in the Tri-City due to habituation to human trash.
That's what happened to a family unit early Thursday morning. The group had been getting into people's yards and garages over a two week period since leaving their dens in late March, and they weren't seen as good candidates for relocation because the female had been relocated once already, judging by its ear tag, and in the fall the same bears had been breaking into residential structures to get food.
As soon as spring arrived, they resumed their activity, although it had been hoped they would go back to eating wild food.
Smith said Port Moody police were first called to the scene and by the time the conservation officers got to the address, the bruins had moved from the garage to the street.
"They had no fear of people," he said, noting that safety was a concern and the reason the bears were killed.
Smith said the conservation officers felt terrible about having to kill the bears, "They hate that part of the job," he said, and he urged people to keep trash and green carts locked up, and not use bird seed so bears aren't tempted to stray into yards.
With bear season just beginning Port Moody is now in the headlines with three bruins — a sow and two yearlings — already dead. A fourth young bear managed to escape and climbed a tree and couldn't be shot because it would have been unsafe.
Port Moody is typically the city with the fewest complaints and bear deaths. During last year's bear season from Apr. 1 to Sept. 29, for example, three bears were destroyed in Coquitlam, two in Port Coquitlam but none were killed in Port Moody.
However, the conservation officer service received 405 bear complaints from PoMo residents last year and had to start a campaign to encourage businesses to lock up their trash bins after a bruin was found hanging out at a popular coffee shop and getting into garbage.
"It's an easy solution, let's lock up all the human food sources, the bird feed, and in the fall it's fruit trees, and even pet food," Smith said. "We really need the public to be doing these and having good habits so we don't get these bears into bad habits."
The shooting deaths of the three bears has angered many, with people posting dozens of comments under the story on the Tri-City News Facebook site. Many had seen the bears in the area and didn't see them as a problem, the young bears had even been caught playing on Forest Park Drive and a video of them posted to the city's website.
Facebook comments ranged from anger at the conservation officer service to frustration with people who don't look remove bear attractants.
Here is a sample:
Amy Murdoch: I knew these bears and saw them this week. They passed behind my house (the forest) frequently over the past year. Never aggressive. Never destroyed anything here because we keep our garbage secure. I was out hiking this morning and wondered if I'd run into them. Turns out they were dead. Devastating.
Cathy Morton: Appalling. When will we stop the massive overdevelopment in this area, and start fining people who don't deal with their garbage properly? I hate reading these stories, especially right after seeing the video of the innocent cubs. Tragic.
Steve Wallace: They say these bears are not "good candidates for relocation" but can't they at least try? I've lived here with young kids and seeing bears in our garbage for over a decade, no problems. I call bull--- on the slaughter of this momma bear and Cubs! Try harder!
