Bear with us as we inform you on how you can protect yourself, your property, and garden from bears in the community.
Living in the Kootenays comes with great benefits which we are all aware of, although another part of our mountain paradise is wildlife interactions. Many factors unintentionally enhance the chance of bear and human interactions: domestic fruit, berry and vegetable production, compost bins and livestock production.
The following information provides tips, and tricks on how to protect yourself and your property from bears. Keep in mind reducing human-bear interactions may help maintain a vibrant bear population.
When it comes to composting there are many potential risks associated during bear season. Bears are attracted to the smell and easy food source it presents. To mitigate these potential interactions you can remove meat and meat by-products and sprinkle lime to mask the smell and speed up the decomposition process. You can also layer your greens, such as kitchen scraps and fresh grass clippings with no more than 10 centimetres of browns, such as dried leaves, grasses, shredded newspaper and cardboard.
To protect your garbage or compost use locking bins.
Our hot summers offer some great conditions for growing your own food, whether that may be gardens, fruit trees or berries. We love them, and so do bears. Bears consider berries to be a natural food source. People with berry bushes, whether they are naturally occurring or planted, can expect bears to be attracted to their berry patches.
Ways to mitigate the loss of your crop is to pick fruits and vegetables as soon as they ripen or let them ripen inside. Bears mostly enjoy berries when they're ripe so by picking them early, you will mitigate your loss. If interactions continue, an electrical fence on your property or replacing the plants with native non-fruiting plants may be solutions.
If feed is available this can attract bears to agricultural lands and lead to conflicts with livestock. To prevent these conflicts, keep chickens and more vulnerable livestock inside at night or in a fenced area, keep your young close in the evenings and use an electric fence. Keep your feed in a secure location a significant distance from your livestock.
When feeding animals such as birds, feed in the winter when bears are less active and natural bird food is limited.
The use of electric fences has proven to be a useful tool in the mitigation of human and bear interactions. For more information on cost-effective safe fencing units please visit bearaware.bc.ca.
To protect yourself, think about carrying bear spray or bear bangers when going out at night during bear season. If you run into a bear, make yourself as big as possible and speak in a calm voice, slowly back away and ensure your safety.
If a bear is continuously creating problems call 1-877-952-7277 to reach the Conservation Officer Service.
There are many factors that play a role in the bears that you encounter such as the age, sex, and time of the year. But educating yourself on how to prevent or mitigate these interactions benefits you and our bear populations.
Noah Elliott-Adams and Aiden Ripplinger are second year Recreation, Fish and Wildlife students at Castlegar's Selkirk College.
