Bear Aware is back in town and so are the bears. As you can see from the bear sightings map, we have bears active within most of our neighbourhoods.
A mom with two cubs is foraging for non-natural food in Dentville.
Residents have witnessed this family trying to get into garbage and compost. The sad reality is that this mom is teaching her cubs bad habits but if she doesn't get a food reward, she and her family will move on.
These approximately 6-month-old cubs will spend 1- years by mom's side until this time next year when mom will be ready to breed again. She will then break up the family unit forcing the yearlings (1 year old) to independence; any bad habits the cubs learn this year will be ingrained for next year when they're out on their own.
Downtown Squamish has a bear that is getting garbage from unlocked residential totes and from unlocked commercial dumpsters. In order to keep these bears wild, we need to ensure that all garbage totes and dumpsters are securely locked and inaccessible as per the District of Squamish Wildlife Attractant Bylaw No, 2053, 2009.
A proactive partnership between the Squamish Bylaw Office, the Conservation Officer Service, Bear Aware and the Bear Aware volunteer network continues. We are working to ensure that bears are not allowed access to non-natural food. With the cool weather we've been experiencing there may be a delay or possible failure of some of the bear's natural foodberries. 2009 had a province-wide bumper berry crop that largely contributed to the reduction in bear sightings throughout all communities.
Because weather plays a major role in food availability, we can never predict what kind of bear year we'll have. It is essential that we have bylaws, education and bear proof totes and dumpsters so that we're prepared for any kind of year, especially those bad berry years.
Because we live in Bear Country, we have bears actively feeding and seeking security in the greenspaces that border our homes. We must make ourselves unattractiveto bears that is. Don't lure bears into your yard with low hanging bird feeders, outdoor pet food or unlocked garbage.
The bottom line: give this mom and cubs, and every other Squamish bear, the opportunity to forage on natural food sources and not your garbage. For more information call: 604.815.5066 or [email protected].
