Fifth bear killed in Sooke
“Those who leave garbage out can be fined $230 for attracting dangerous wildlife.It’s so unfortunate for these bears,” said conservation officer Rick Dekelver. It’s so preventable, but it’s an ongoing battle to get people to change their ways and put their garbage away.”
Serious efforts and resources have been put in place to educate the community, increase safety and reduce the accessibility of bear attractants. The education program Wild Wise Sooke is running constantly, signs are out and flyers handed out However, we have challenges. There are garbage cans out all the time, and as long as people keep leaving their garbage out it’s going to continue to be a problem.
Black bears are such adaptable and smart creatures and they learn ways to get to their highly-coveted calories. That first taste of someone’s leftovers in an unsecured garbage receptacle leads them onto a dangerous path – both for us and for them.
Sooke lies in prime bear habitat with a patchwork of travel pathways that allow bears to pop in and out of security cover. Berry bushes border our trails, large fruit trees become overburdened with fruit that are too high to be picked, someone forgets to secure garbage indoors, puts can out to early for pick up or leaves their bird feeder out.
It just takes that one time and the bear has learned a new behaviour. Once they receive that caloric reward they take more chances and become more destructive. They will break the branches off of fruit trees, drag totes away to break into them or defend their territory with a defensive charge or swat.
“In all accounts, unfortunately, bears suffer because of bad habits on the part of humans.
“Can’t blame the bears – they’re just following their noses… We really need the public to step up and talk to their neighbours and make sure there’s no attractants.”
So far, five of the bears spotted this year have been put down due to conflicts. However, with so many habituated bear sightings and with fruit season on the way, the number could climb if people are irresponsible.
“As a community we need to take ownership of the problem,” , we all should be encouraging people to talk to their neighbours
We can not be complacent, we can learn more about what We Can Do to reduce your impact on bears and other wildlife. “I think a good question for everybody in Sooke to ask themselves [is] if you see a bear in your space, you should ask yourself what am I doing to attract this bear.”
Don’t wait. Check out the accurate, science-based information we have on our website (www.wildwisesooke.com), and see our Facebook page or ask me for some advice. I’m here to help and share my knowledge so we don’t all keep repeating history.
Thank you
Debb Read
Wild Wise Sooke
A community program
Resources
- Reminder from Wild Wise Sooke: Manage your fruit trees, be bear aware
- Bear Aware Reminder: Garbage management, bylaws, and fines
- Fifth bear killed in Sooke
- Recent bear kills (4) attributed to human-generated attractants
- As fruit ripens, non-habituated bears will move into the forests
- Increased bear sightings, what you need to know, and how to keep bears alive
- Bear sightings at Potholes, between parking lots 3 and 2
- How bears communicate (Video)
- A sure sign of spring for residents of Sooke is the return of bears.
- Bear in Area signs emerge from hibernation
I have seen that people are leaving for the weekend and putting their garbage out on Fridays for Monday morning pick up. Now that is worst thing to do! Have a neighbor come over and take it out for you. Last time this was done on our street..garbage littered the whole area!
Is anyone actually being fined? The conservation officer just needs to drive around on Sunday nights.
And people still have BS reasons as to why they don’t fully secure attractants such as garbage and compost bins. It literally comes down to being lazy. That’s it. If you can’t properly secure things that attract large animals (or even raccoons, they make quite the mess) you are LAZY. It’s one of the easiest things to do yet people will still spout ridiculous reasons on why they don’t and claim that it’s “not their fault”. It is, being lazy is no one’s fault but your own. Take some damn responsibility and do the right thing like an adult for christ sakes…
Touche
tell how to get these people charged so they learn!!!!!
This is so sad secure your things and the issue might not be so big that you have to kill a bear
Shadow West Security says, I continually see residents with there garbage cans out in the street, in the early morning, with evidence that bears have found the cans.This has to stop!purhaps I should pass the addresses onto the Sooke RCMP.
This is getting ridiculous deal with your trash and anything else that’s attracting them ….sick of people not doing there due diligence and then phoning reports in so they get the bears killed….
As the community continues to expand, bears and humans are forced to live closer together. It is our responsibility to behave proactively and ensure safety in the community and coexistence for humans and wildlife alike. Taking a responsible approach to attractant management is a critical component of this goal.
Wild Wise Sooke is a proactive conservation strategy that encourages efforts by all to reduce negative human-wildlife interactions. “Keep wildlife wild– and our communities safe”.
Maybe it’s time for the city to make locking bins manditory.
Yes it will cost us, the thing is, it’s already costing us and our wildlife a terrible price.
What a shame
FFS is that the only choise or is there another one !!!
This is so needless. The fine needs to be much, much higher, the bear paid too high a price instead, death.
Know that each complaint results in instant death….NOT relocation.
This is disgusting! About time you starting charging those that are luring bears to a certain death – since that’s the only way you seem able to ‘conserve’ them – instead of just ridding the area of a bear! Could be fined MUST read HAS BEEN FINED – and fined heavily! Bear has been removed to another territory!
Forget the useless fines..Make it mandatory, long overdue ..bear proof garbage cans, it is on the mainland….get with the times Sooke.
We live in a mobile home park , we have many neighbours who leave they their garbage cans out where the bear has free access to it. Also bird feeders and putting their garbage cans out the night before pickup, which is Thursday. We have never seen conservation people around until there is a complaint. Conservation is probably not staffed enough to look after this problem. It’s hard to understand why people don’t get it, quit luring these bears with our bad habits. We live where the bears have been longer than us. We can all live together if we make an effort to.
Really this is what your blming on people? How about the over use of cuttinng down tress that kills salmon the bears highest resource for food and how about the fact that there is too little forest for berries to grow the bears other soruce – I get that garbage put out too soon is a bad habit to keep bears & people safe but i think others issues are the biggest culpret here!!!!0