Now that the weather’s warmer everyone is coming out of hibernation and heading outdoors. From now until late fall, an average of six people will be attacked by bears, here in BC.

Bella Coola Valley BC, situated in the Central Coast mountains, about one-third of the way up the province, has been described as “The Killer Bear Capital of the World,” due to its high level of human bear conflicts. It’s an area with special grizzly bear management issues.

It was here, this past Saturday, where the province’s first bear attack of the year took place, according today’s Globe and Mail article, Animal Control. It has yet to be confirmed whether the attack was related to a food or garbage problem, but the article goes on to explain that over 700 bears are destroyed each year because they pose a danger to the public, largely because they’re looking for food.

It’s carelessness with garbage and food that attracts bears into areas where they shouldn’t be.

Our cottage, and many others across Canada is located in bear country. Below are are 10 tips from the Bear Aware program designed to reduce the incidents of problem people - opps, that should read bears.

Bear Aware Tip Sheet

1. Keep Garbage inside the house
2. Don’t add meat products or cooked food to compost, turn it regularly and keep it covered
3. Pick ripe and fallen fruit daily*
4. Remove unused fruit trees*
5. Use bird feeders only in winter*
6. Keep ground free of seeds
7. Clean barbecue grill after each use
8. Store grill in a covered area
9. Bring pet dishes inside and clean up spills
10. Store pet food indoors

* Our cottage association discourages us from having fruit trees and bird feeders at the lake

Tomorrow we will test your bear knowledge and provide tips on how to use bear spray.

Cheers,

Julie

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 10:16 am and is filed under Current News, Environment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.