The Editor,
Re. “Locked garbage bins will not keep the bears away” (Letters, The Tri-City News, Aug. 26).
Please people, let us put to rest the old song about “development” and “habitat encroachment” as a cause for the increase in bear activity. The reason is people providing food and the animals’ adaptability. Two examples:
The North Shore, back in its developmental days, put a limit on how far up and back the development could go because of issues with the watershed. Those rules have not changed in nearly a century. The North Shore has certainly become more dense but with very little encroachment up and back.
I grew up in North Van and when I was a kid, if a bear wandered into the city, it was front-page news. And we sure didn’t do anything special with our garbage. Now, bear sightings are a daily occurrence. The bears — and coyotes, skunks and raccoons, etc.) adapted.
Closer to home, I am not sure about the expansion of Burke Mountain regarding the development north but I would think it is a couple of kilometres.
If you look at Google Earth and draw a line straight north from the top of Coast Meridian to the North Pole, you will encounter very little civilization along the way, save for a very few roads. Do you really think that us pushing the housing a few kilometres up the hill is going to affect the bears’ habitat? I don’t think so.
Bears are smart, they adapt, we need to deal with that. Being more careful with food being left around will help a great deal but until the bears re-adapt and go back to the real wilderness, this problem isn’t going away.
Pete Robertson,
Port Coquitlam
JUST DESTROY BEARS?
The Editor,
I am so tired of reading about “problem” bears. Letter writer Dave Carruthers is correct. Having lived in PoCo for 30-plus years, and having watched with astonishment and sadness the unbridled growth on Burke Mountain in Coquitlam, it amazes me that our elected officials continue this stupidity.
The residents of this area — bears, deers, etc. — have been squeezed and squeezed for habitat. Give them a break.
Burke Mountain is an eyesore, at best. Food for the bears is everywhere. Shall you just destroy them to the point of of non-existence? Sure looks that way to me.
Betty Anne Myers,
Port Coquitlam
LOCK ALL OF OUR TRASH CANS
The Editor,
I am sick of reading stories about our so called “conservation” officers killing bears, particularly when they orphan young cubs.
So I have to ask the question: Why, when the city gave us these new garbage cans, do only the green waste have locks? Are we suppose to wash the rest of are garbage so it doesn’t entice the bears?
Stop killing the bears.
Casey Whittet,
Coquitlam
