If the bears come a-knocking, so, too could a big bill.
Squamish residents now face fines of up to $500 for attracting wildlife. In 2005, the District of Squamish became one of the first municipalities in the province to implement a Wildlife Attractant Bylaw. The bylaw, which was revised in 2009, guides people in managing refuse and attractants, so as to not attract dangerous wildlife into neighbourhoods.
The regulations are enforced on a complaint basis. Until this week, the district's only option to deal with repeat offenders was to take them to provincial court. It was never used because the option was costly and slow, said Robin Arthurs, the district's general manager of corporate services.
"We haven't done it because it is a long and lengthy process," she said.
The district had been successful with voluntary compliance, Arthurs said. This year, officials received 75 complaints, including some regarding chickens. The new tickets will help bylaw officers with enforcement, she said.
"It is a tool to leverage compliance from these repeat offenders," Arthurs said.
Fines start at $150 for violations such as having a compost that's accessible to animals. The same fee also covers bird feeders, a failure to pick up fallen fruit and leaving out barbecue equipment and tools.
Most tickets come with a fine of $200. They will be handed out for a variety of violations, from feeding wildlife to not securing a dumpster. The two largest fines include leaving grease, antifreeze, paint or petroleum in a place reachable to wildlife - $400 - and leaving an outdoor food container (such as a freezer) attainable to wildlife - $500.
So far this year, one bear in Squamish has been destroyed because of conflict behaviour, said Meg Toom, Squamish's Bear Aware co-ordinator. The young female bear was hanging around the Stawamus Chief Provincial Park after opening campers' coolers. It later made a habit of roaming the campground's food preparation shelter and attempting to break into food storage units, Toom said.
The most common attractant for bears is accessible garbage, she said. In the late summer and fall, fruit trees also draw animals into town. Squamish Climate Action Network (Squamish CAN) is in the process of mapping where the community's fruit trees are as a way to better manage them in the future.
Squamish CAN and Squamish Bear Aware offer a fruit tree picking program to those unable to manage their trees, Toom noted. For free, volunteers pick the potential bear food and donate the fruit to local organizations, such as Squamish Helping Hands Society. For more information on the program visit www.squamishcan.net.
