Human-wildlife conflicts up across the province

Jun 13, 2019 | 4:28 PM

VICTORIA — Conflicts between bears and humans are up significantly in the province this year.

That’s according to Chris Doyle, the deputy chief of provincial operations for the BC Conservation Officer Service.

“The spring of 2019 has seen high human bear conflict numbers compared to previous years,” he said during a news conference Thursday.

During April and May, there were 3,826 black bear reports phoned in to the service, along with 182 calls for grizzly bears.

“The average over the previous eight years has been 2,400 black bear calls and 82 grizzly bear calls. So definitely an increase there,” Doyle says.

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It’s not clear what’s to blame for the increase, but Doyle says it’s possible the cold, dry spring has led to poor food availability for bears as they emerge from the den.

He does remind people that managing attractants like garbage, fruit trees, bird feeders and barbecues need to be managed properly to mitigate any conditioning.

“When responding to conflicts, public safety is paramount for the COS,” Doyle says. “The COS assesses complaints to determine the public safety risk, the level of food conditioning, the level of human habituation, and the overall condition and behavior of conflict animals involved.”

Doyle adds it’s against the law to feed bears or other dangerous wildlife, along with negligently storing attractants.

by Ashley Legassic

Human-wildlife conflicts up across the province

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