Another bear killed in Sooke
SPN published a letter last week from a reader upset that 1) another bear trap had been set, 2) that that bear would be caught and killed, and 3) that humans and their attractants were what caused the bear to become habituated.
A copy of that letter is here.
That bear has since been caught and killed.
Debbie Read of Wild Wise Sooke has posted the following update on various social media groups:
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A bear trap was set early this week in Sooke. A bear was trapped and destroyed . Before you blame conservation officers, understand this bear was attracted by garbage,fruit trees and bird seed. It became habituated, a nuisance and began to get into conflict. We must take responsibility! Clean up attractions around your home … prevent bears from coming into conflicts!
Earlier this week, we also posted a video by Brian Rundle and Wendy Duckworth, which we are re-posting below. This is what a bear in nature looks like.
A CBC news story this morning reported that calls this year were up 500 per cent from last year, in part because of the long hot summer.
Our question to our readership: What should be done? Do we need more education? Fines? Higher fines?
Maybe we should consider a fund raiser for more live traps in sooke? Not sure how costly that would be, just a suggestion.
If the bears are habituated it doesn’t matter how far the CO’S take them into the woods, they come back. The issue is not lack of traps,it’s irresponsible residents that sign the bears’ death warrant. Public safety is paramount.
Very true.
It’s too bad, that is so sad, they are such beautiful animals.I see bears almost every night while on patrol
get it befor I do if u want it to live
More education for the people that put their garbage out too soon.
Stop building in Sooke! There’s to much building in this town, it’s to small for all these houses and we’re taking up all the forest that these animals live in!
No bear should lose it’s life because of ignorant people…if they can prove that you are attracking bears, by either leaving your garbage out too early, unsecured or not cleaning up your fruit..etc….they should make you pay for the cost of trapping and relocating the bears…simple as that!
So sad that another beautiful animal has been destroyed. We live in there territory, we need to learn how to cohesively live together. If we don’t bother them, they won’t bother us. We also need to be aware of how we store our garbage and compost bins. If you don’t want the bears to stick around your neighbourhood, then stop giving them reasons to feast and make a mess of our waste. Education goes a long way as well as acknowledging we live in bear country. There is no need to destroy them! They deserve to be here as much as we do!
Sadly stupid is too hard to train
Educate, educate, educate! And then, when that doesn’t work, fine, fine, FINE! When you hit people in the pocketbook, they usually pay more attention.
stop ripping up their habitat to build houses for people .
this their world,stop leaving food out for them…i think it is a shame to kill them take them further out
Really? How many bear attacks in,Sooke are known? Stupid humans. A bear is more scared of youz then you are of it. Should,the bear be a,garbage bear unless it had learned that as a cub it can and would revert back to thje law of the wild and hunt its food! What’s wrong with a,tranquilizer? … Live trap(s) I know those that can build them if,cost is the issue. By the way…. What’s the full cost via extermination?
Wild Wise Sooke https://m.facebook.com/wildwisesooke
Keep your garbage and food scraps bin inside until the morning of garbage pick up. If you can. Like the CO’s said, pick the fruit from your fruit trees.
It may be that folks are not sure what a bear resistant garbage can is, or they think there is no secure outdoor storage. Here is a website that goes into detail about what makes a garbage can bear resistant. http://www.bearsmart.com/managing-communities/waste-management/
Oh and one more thought. Some folks may not know how to build a little shed to store garbage, or may not be able to afford one. Perhaps we could fund raise so that we could help folks get what they need. And for those without a garage, we could help them build a little trash shed.
Our trash stays inside until pick-up morning. It didn’t used to.
We went from having a bear drag a locked-lid container all the way up the drive, until he found a quiet spot he could gnaw it open, to a covered heavy-lid wooden box for the can.
That lasted a week until he flipped it over. Then I secured it with 1″ anchor line, and he got frustrated but wound up busting it apart.
That did it, trash is inside and has been for the last 18 months. I left the busted box where it was, as a reminder to myself to never get complacent with it again.
I recently read a lengthy discussion on a Sooke FB page with several people complaining that they are too “busy” to remove the fruit from their trees. Or they objected to keeping their garbage locked away until garbage day. They fully knew the consequences of their non-action. For people like this, education would be pointless. They simply don’t care. It’s similar to texting while driving. Some people refuse to learn. Fines for texting have risen dramatically. Make stupidity pay; not the bears.