We鈥檙e going to have to become more bear aware here in 91原创.

With reports of bears wandering through neighbourhoods including Otter, Brookswood, and Murrayville in recent weeks, we are being confronted with the fact that 91原创 is no longer a bear-free community.

For years, black bears have been an issue for people on the other side of the Fraser River in Maple Ridge, Mission, and Pitt Meadows, or for those on the North Shore. 

But 91原创? You鈥檇 hear about a bear every few years, but they were rare visitors. 

This community was heavily logged in the early 20th century, and then spent another 70 years serving largely as a farming hub.
Between the loss of most of 91原创鈥檚 mature forests, and the fact that mid-century farmers aggressively defended their livestock, bears and other large predators locally were pretty much wiped out.

While we still have ample agricultural land, we now have far fewer dairy herds. 

Much of 91原创鈥檚 farmland now is devoted to berries, mushrooms, poultry, or greenhouses. Other farms have become semi-forested suburban housing, or hobby farms with a horse stable. We鈥檝e also expanded our regional and local parks.

All of which means there is more tree cover than there was a generation or two ago, and there鈥檚 plenty of food to attract a hungry bear.

So we鈥檙e going to have to learn to be more careful. That means containing foods that could attract bears, including picking and gathering fruit from backyard apple and plum trees, keeping compost and garbage secured, removing birdfeeders during 鈥渂ear season鈥� from April to November, cleaning barbecues thoroughly, feeding pets indoors, and using fencing to protect beehives and livestock.

Bear aware programs across the province have reduced the number of conflicts between bears and people, but there are still too many bears shot by B.C. Conservation Service officers every year because they have become habituated to human food sources.

That makes the bears dangerous to people and domestic animals, which means they have to be relocated or killed. When a bear is killed because they鈥檝e learned to get their food from people, we鈥檝e failed in our duties to take care of our province鈥檚 wildlife.

鈥� M.C.