As the Sunshine Coast's bears are getting ready for a long winter's nap, the Bear Education and Resource (BEAR) group is working to see them wake up to a 2011 with less reason to come dining in populated areas.
BEAR founder Gerald Shaffer, along with area conservation officers, have been able to persuade at least one strata complex council in Gibsons to adopt its own bear-proof can bylaw with the idea of seeing bear-proof cans in every strata and home on the Coast.
"It's very early days and they're very small numbers; however, the tide is turning, and a lot of people are starting to see the need to have more management to create safer habitat for the bears. The rollover of that is that it's safer habitat for people as well," Shaffer said.
On a November walkabout "attractant audit" in Gibsons' bear hotspots, Shaffer found one complex, Sunshine Ridge, was having a "hell of a time" with bears.
"We talked to the kids and, oh my lord, they were having bear sightings every day -some close, some not so close," Shaffer said.
The complex has dead-end carports, lots of kids running around and easily accessible garbage cans next to the cars -a perfect formula for a nasty human-bear conflict, Shaffer said.
"If they happened to trap a bear in one of the carports, well that can become a fairly serious situation, mostly for the bear if not for the children," he said.
Shaffer said the strata council greeted the suggestion to enforce a bear-proof can policy with open arms.
Shaffer said Sunshine Ridge is far from unique, though.
"It was surprising how many people in Gibsons are in moderate to serious conflict with black bears, mostly to do with attractant management -people leaving garbage cans out overnight or inappropriate garbage cans," he said.
Gibsons currently has a bylaw that mandates all garbage must be stored in bins that can be sealed to prevent wildlife access, but it is not highly enforced.
Gibsons bylaw officer Ron Joyce said that may change with the recent implementation of the bylaw enforcement notice system, but Joyce and Shaffer agree that residents' money would be better spent on a suitable garbage can rather than fines. Joyce said residents will always be given a chance to comply with the bylaw before being fined.
Shaffer has arranged for top-notch bear-proof bins to be sold at Gibsons Building Supply.
And bears, of course, do not consult local bylaws before going scavenging for an easy meal. Shaffer said he was recently called in to intervene in a conflict involving black bears and a decapitated deer in a Roberts Creek back yard.
"It wasn't good news for the deer, but it was even worse news for the residents of the house only 20 feet away," he said. "I persuaded the bears to move on. I don't know why, but people are all of a sudden calling me the 'bear whisperer.' It was anything but a whisper."
Shaffer said he would like to see the Sunshine Coast Regional District address wildlife control in its upcoming solid waste management plan (SWMP) update. The current SWMP makes no mention of wildlife at all.
Conservation officer Murray Smith said 2010 saw a "pretty average" number of human bear conflicts with 550 hotline calls. He said there was a total of 15 bears destroyed by humans this year, 14 by conservation officers and one by a private citizen.
