A Squamish couple is lucky to get away with a few scratches after a bear charged at them Thursday night, says a conservation officer.
On Oct. 6, just before 8 p.m., a man and woman were sitting by a side door to their house in Garibaldi Estates when a medium-sized black bear rounded the corner from the backyard. The bear, which was not tagged, ran at the couple and hissed at them, said Sgt. Simon Gravel, who works for the Sea to Sky Corridor’s conservation service. The woman’s leg was scratched by the bear and the man suffered a scratch on his shoulder. Neither required stitches, Gravel noted.
“It is still very unusual,” he said of the bear’s behaviour.
While Gravel suspects the bear was trying to protect his feeding grounds, rather than acting on a predatorily basis, the mammals are extremely strong, he said. The couple is fortunate that their injuries were purely superficial, Gravel added.
“It could have been a lot worse,” he said.
More than 20 bears are being tracked throughout Squamish’s urban neighbourhoods as they compete for food sources. The berry season was not strong this summer nor is there a large salmon run, Gravel noted, but fruit trees are abundant with food. Those trees are attracting a lot of the mammals into the area, he said. As a result, the bears start to get territorial.
“These bears will protect the food sources that are fading quickly.”
Depending on the weather, bears can stay active until Christmas before going into hibernation. There are a lot of steps people can take to avoid escalation between people and wildlife conflicts – including picking fruit off trees and leaving garbage bins inside until pickup morning. It only takes one mistake for a bear to remember an open tote and return to a house. At the moment, conservation officers have been busy mitigating these interactions, Gravel said, noting officials recently shepherded a black bear away from a school zone.
However, none of these tactics, such as hazing to scare the bear, can be implemented if the public doesn’t report bear sightings, Gravel said.
“We are really hoping that generally speaking, people report these bears,” he said.
Conservation officers have set a trap in the hope of catching the bear that charged at the couple. If you see a bear in your neighbourhood please call 1-877-952-7277.
“There has been a very high level of bear conflict this year in Squamish,” Gravel said.
