Living on the WestIsle comes with a lot of wildlife encounters.
It’s just a part of the territory.
However, while our towns may be well-established, some original inhabitants aren’t done reminding us who was here first.
According to local WildSafeBC coordinators Bob Hansen and Marianne Paquette, black bears have been storming Tofino and Ucluelet this year.
Break-ins have been numerous, and come in all forms.
Black bears broke into an alarming 35 vehicles, 35 sheds, 21 commercial waste bins, eight outdoor freezers, eight chicken coops, and four commercial grease bins.
Yuck, we don’t even want to think about how gross those grease bins were.
There were 51 close encounters between people and bears, and seven cases where a bear entered a residence with people inside.
Absolutely terrifying.
Eight bears were killed after becoming food-conditioned past the point of no return.
We’ve already taken up big chunks of their homes, so the least we can do is stop killing them. Remember folks, a fed bear is a dead bear.
While in some unfortunate instances, it’s unavoidable, there’s a lot we can do to keep them safe.
We need to reduce bear attractants to keep them out of towns and in the forests where they belong.
WildSafeBC joined Tofino’s council for a meeting recently to discuss what else can be done to lower these numbers.
WildSafeBC team just did a survey of commercial bins after figuring out just how serious this problem was.
They found that half of the 98 bins they looked at were not secured.
Tofino’s has been working on a new wildlife attractant bylaw, which WildSafeBS said would make a big difference in these numbers.
“That really addresses a significant gap in our efforts to co-exist with wildlife,” Hanson told Westerly News.
He said the town should also start including waste management requirements in business licence applications and development permits.
From there, they suggested attaining Bear Smart status would be the next best step to keeping both wild and human residents safe.
WildSafeBC is also working with the Tofino and Ucluelet districts to expand the wildlife safety marketing being delivered to residents and visitors.
Overall, he said the last five years have resulted in a lot of positive changes in the communities, and he wants to keep that growing.
“We’d really like to build on the momentum that’s been built up over the last five seasons,” he said.
For more info on what to do to change these numbers, read our piece on whether bears are the real problem.
