It took the District of Squamish many years of hard work to become a designated “Bear Smart “ community, but it only took a few months to become “Bear Stupid,” thanks to the new food scrap recycling program that was started a while ago.
This program may work in a city like Vancouver where there are no bears surrounding it like Squamish, but it sure does not and will not work here.
Virtually every residence in Squamish now has a rotten, stinking, maggot-ridden food scrap bin in their backyard, front yard or carport – so guess why all of a sudden we have so many bears around the houses? The Squamish Chief quoted someone a while ago saying it is because of the berry crop, but I say it is because of these ridiculous, stinking bins. I would guess about 99 per cent of them are outside, just waiting for the bears.
Bears can smell a mile away and this is like a smorgasbord waiting for them. As for the so-called “bear-proof” bins, I watched a bear get one open in five minutes, and I have talked to other people who said theirs was opened by bears also. Bears are very smart animals and when it comes to food, they are relentless.
So who wins with this program? Carneys, of course, and the bears lose big-time. Don’t blame the bears because they are just doing what bears do, looking for food, and don’t blame the conservation officers; they are just doing their job according to their policy. Bears that I have seen for years and years on the same route have disappeared since this program started, so I think Squamish had better revisit this silly program before our bears all become nuisance bears and are destroyed.
Larry McHale
Squamish
