WildSafeBC, the successor to the very successful Bear Aware program, has turned to the use of social media to help in its efforts to reduce human-wildlife conflict throughout the province.
"When we were 'Bear Aware' and our focus was solely on black bears and grizzlies, we were busy," said provincial coordinator Frank Ritcey, "but now that we are dealing with all forms of human-wildlife conflict, we're incredibly busy. Because of that increase we needed to find a way to expand our messaging beyond the standard face-to-face educational processes that we used to employ."
Facebook pages have been created for the 20-plus communities that WildSafeBC has coordinators based in. One primary page has been established for the whole of the province (www.facebook.com/wildsafebc)
"The beauty of these pages is that they not only allow us to provide information to the public, but it also gives the public a chance to tell us about their concerns" added Ritcey.
Coupled with their mapping system (www.wildsafebc.com/warp) that provides an overview of conflicts throughout the province, the addition of Facebook will help round out the program's digital presence.
"I hope that everyone in the community will take the opportunity to visit our local Facebook page" added Kim Drescher, the WildSafeBC coordinator for the Sunshine Coast. " By 'liking' us, you'll automatically get any updates I post about current human-wildlife conflicts or other items of interest regarding local wildlife in our area."
To find us, just login to Facebook and search WildSafeBC-Sunshine Coast (press 'like" to receive news feed).
-Submitted
