Linda Reakes walks a stretch of the Traboulay PoCo Trail near her house every day but, since the new year, she has been doing more than just enjoying the fresh air and scenery she has been picking up large piles of food waste left behind by an unknown culprit.
Reakes lives near Osborne and Lafleur streets and said the trouble started in January with a gingerbread house dumped by the trail. In the past few months, she and her neighbours have picked up at least 10 large piles of food waste, the most recent being an abandoned hot dog bun and some spaghetti.
Reakes is concerned that as spring warms up, the discarded food will become a dangerous attractant for bears and coyotes.
"We're going to have an aggressive [animal] issue," Reakes said.
What's most frustrating, she added, is that the food is being dumped so close to a garbage can.
"They seem to be doing it when everybody is off the trail, when nobody is watching," Reakes said. "They don't leave a garbage bag, receipts, nothing."
She's hoping that whoever is leaving the food Reakes suspects they have children, given the gingerbread house will come to their senses before a bear discovers it.
Dan Scoones, PoCo's manager of bylaw services, said the dumping of food is a serious concern.
"That's a total wildlife attractant," he said, noting bears, coyotes and rats will be drawn to the easy food source.
"This isn't a case where we just have to monitor and figure out who's dumping their yard trimmings, this elevates it to a different level," Scoones said.
The city's bylaw office has opened a case on the matter and will be investigating to see if they can determine who is dumping the food waste.
@spayneTC
