Bruins are sticking to berries rather than sifting through garbage to feed their voracious appetites. As a result, the summer bear season has been unusually quiet, say local animal control officers.
"Compared to last year, I don't want to ever say it's very quiet, it's always busy, but compared to last year, it's been very quiet," says Cody Ambrose, a conservation officer with the BC Conservation Officer Service.
While other communities have been seeing conflicts with bears, problems with foraging black bears have been relatively few and far between in the Tri-Cities.
However, Port Coquitlam lost a bear at the end of June when it had to be put down for chasing walkers along the PoCo-Len Traboulay Trail.
"That one in PoCo was a huge public safety concern. It got into people's garbage," Ambrose said. When conservation officers entered a back yard on Wellington Street to investigate, the bear charged them, Ambrose said.
So far, only six bears have been destroyed in the Fraser Valley Zone that stretches from Port Moody to Manning Park, including the one in PoCo. Two more were destroyed in Maple Ridge, one in Mission, one in Anmore and one in Harrison Hot Springs.
As well, six bears were relocated, including one from Port Moody and five from Maple Ridge, and a bear was killed by a car in PoCo.
Coquitlam's urban wildlife coordinator also confirmed that bear complaints are down in the city. Drake Stephens speculated that a good berry crop has been keeping bruins away.
"Even though we had the cold wet spring, it didn't dampen the salmon berries and the huckleberries, that's good," Drake Stephens said.
Quiet in Coquitlam
Last year's bear season was one of the busiest in recent years, with several bears destroyed and their cubs relocated to Critter Care in Langley. Those bears are now back in the woods, but their removal from this area could be another reason bear complaints are down.
Instead of managing bear complaints, Stephens has been fielding calls about skunks, a cougar that turned out to be a bobcat, and a marmot from B.C.'s interior that somehow managed to hitch a ride to Coquitlam.
However, Stephens said he isn't getting complacent and has been stepping up patrols in Coquitlam neighbourhoods where bears frequent and educating homeowners about being bear-proof, as well as speaking with groups about being Bear Aware. Bears need to eat more as hibernation nears and could start hanging around unless people keep garbage and other attractants out of their yards.
Stephens, who has been Coquitlam's seasonal Bear Aware coordinator for years, was recently hired as the city's full-time urban wildlife coordinator.
The numbers
2012 Black Bear Complaints
Port Coquitlam
170
Anmore
12
Coquitlam
326
Port Moody
263
Belcarra
7
- Reported by the Conservation Officer Service
