As an unusually mild winter mobilizes Olympic organizers into a frenzy of snow-scavenging, the Sunshine Coast is seeing its own mild-winter phenomenon: non-hibernating bears.
"We've got bears kind of coming out," Sunshine Coast conservation officer Murray Smith said, noting that bears have been spotted in Halfmoon Bay, Roberts Creek, the Tuwanek area and Upper Gibsons. "It doesn't mean that they're out for good. It just means that they're out, possibly because it's so warm."
Bears, Smith said, are not true hibernators and will move between den sites during their hibernation period, which falls between December and March on the Coast. Bears which are out right now may simply be moving between den sites. Equally, mild temperatures may have lured them out, and a drop in temperatures might well send them back into hibernation.
But as it stands, he said, bears that are out are likely to be scavenging for food -in the usual wrong places.
"Any vegetation there is [at this time of year] doesn't have a lot of nutrients, so that's why they end up getting into a bit of trouble," he said. "They get into garbage, they get into birdseed, they start getting into compostings that are readily available."
Coast residents, he said, need to remember not to leave bear attractants around, such as accessible garbage. Beyond that, birdfeeders should be attached out of bears' reach and Coasters should watch what they compost.
"We wouldn't want to put meat and vegetable scraps in [composts] at this point, for the most part right now, based on this unique year we're having," he said.
