Editor:
Backyard chickens/poultry have become a bear attractant that is beginning to rival garbage on the Sunshine Coast. The reports to the conservation officer service RAPP line are reflecting this, with most calls coming in from the Roberts Creek area.
Bears are initially lured to the smell of the feed. They can detect it from over a kilometre away. Chicken feed (and the seed found in bird feeders) contains lots of protein-rich calories for a bear. Once the bears have come to your property for the feed, it won't be long until they discover a chicken or quail. They will quickly become food-conditioned to poultry and they will keep coming back. This poses a threat to public safety and usually ends in death for the bear.
Black bears are extremely fast learners with an extraordinary memory. Destroying the bear or bear families will not alleviate the problem. Eventually, another bear will be lured, and the cycle will continue.
Enjoying self-sustainability with your backyard chickens can be achieved. The most effective non-lethal form of bear management is the use of electric fencing. Information on electric fencing is on the Bear Aware website www.bearaware.bc.ca.
Responsibility is key to successfully co-existing with the habitat that interfaces our properties.
Let's try to keep our bears in the wild; please use proper husbandry with poultry and livestock. If you are not ready to use electric fencing, please consider feeding poultry in a shed or coop with feed dispensers and clean up any seed/feed that is spilled. The neighbourhood, your farm animals and the bears will be safer.
Kim Drescher
SC Bear Aware
