Magda Konieczna

Too close for comfort

appeared in North Shore News August 15, 2004 (see the original)

Patricia Gocal had a lot of patience when it came to bears.

When a bear came within a few feet of her two-year-old daughter on Aug. 8, however, her patience ended.

Gocal has seen bears around her Lynn Valley neighbourhood adjacent to Lynn Canyon Park before - in fact, one of them damaged some of her property last year. That, however, was in the early hours of the morning. This time, a bear came up her driveway and up to her daughter in broad daylight.

"I just don't have any patience when they're showing up at 10:30 in the morning and we're worried about our children," she said. "My husband grabbed my daughter and started yelling."

The bear wandered off into the neighbour's property, she said.

Gocal said the situation has gotten worse since she moved in three years ago.

"They're becoming more and more comfortable within the neighbourhood," she said. "They're strolling around during the day. I've never heard of them being around during the day before."

There have been about 350 bear sightings so far this year in North Vancouver District, compared to about five in the same time period last year. The population has grown significantly since conservation officers stopped shooting bears in the late 1990s, said District of North Vancouver acting parks manager David Hibbard.

"There were a number of bears shot and killed (in 1999) and since then, the population has increased because we're managing them with a more proactive approach," Hibbard said. "We're trying to coexist with black bears."

Additionally, the hot, dry summer has caused berries to ripen earlier, bringing bears down from the mountain two or three months earlier than usual.

"Weather conditions have produced many, many berries, and earlier than normal," Hibbard said. "Bears are trying to eat and gain weight for the fall, for hibernation. The District of North Vancouver has a high percentage of natural parkland interfaced with urban areas so that's where you see the bears pop out."

This is not surprising, Hibbard said, because that parkland is the natural habitat for bears.

The North Shore Black Bear Network, which works with the district to teach people how to deal with bears, estimates that 1,000 bears are killed every year in British Columbia by conservation officers. In contrast, in North and West Vancouver, one bear was killed last year and none the year before, compared to 39 in 1999. Even so, in a particularly dangerous situation, conservation officers might still trap or kill a bear, Hibbard said.

"If people feel threatened or they feel their children are at risk - the bear's on the porch banging on the back door - then we bring in conservation people," he said. "Sometimes they will put a trap out and relocate the bear."

He said that the bear would not be killed unless it posed an immediate threat. "Bears aren't here to attack people, but sometimes there is a situation where people may have cornered a bear or put it up a tree and it's feeling anxious. Then we need some other support."

Barbara Murray, of the North Shore Black Bear Network, said the important thing is to emphasize to bears that they should not be coming into backyards. "Be on the offensive with these bears a little bit," Murray said. "Don't be afraid to yell and throw stones, to tell them they're trespassing. Let's try to make them uncomfortable in the yards and let them go back to their natural forests."

Murray said people need to be patient with the bears.

"As soon as those fruit and berry attractants are gone from the yard, as long as there's not garbage and bird seeds, then these bears will go somewhere else," she said.

Murray recommended using a practice called "hazing," which involves yelling or throwing things at the bears from a safe place, like a balcony or a window. She also recommends using male human marking - urinating around the edge of your property - to keep bears out.

Hibbard said he expects the bear population will stop growing. "We think it should stabilize naturally because it's based on food sources and how much room there is out there," he said. "We can't have a lot of bears in a small confined area."

Public response to the growing number of bears has been largely positive, he added. "I would say there's a real desire to coexist and try to live together," Hibbard said.