A North Island porblem: possible solutions for Campbell River's bear problem

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Campbell River’s bear problem is escalating. Reports of their raiding garbage cans doubled in number this year. Sergeant Mike Newton, a Conservation Officer with the Ministry of Environment, went to the June 27 city councill meeting with a couple of suggestions.

They hinge upon changing human behaviour.

He explained that North Vancouver Island is prime bear habitat. Many communities are bulit along the salmon baring streams where they naturally geo funnel.

“Our zone looks after all the communities north from Fannie Bay up to Bella Bella. We see the wide swath of bigger centres like Campbell River, Courtney, Comox and smaller towns like Tahsis, Gold River. It's the same issue, in all community sizes,” said Newton.

Hopefully Cortes Island will continue to be an exception. It has been two years since there was bear problem. While the ‘Whaletown Bear’ had to be put down, his Squirrel Cove counterpart appears to have eluded conservation officers and what seemed like certain execution. The Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) has been educating islanders about bear proofing their yards. There were no reports of bears raiding garbage cans, compost or fruit trees on Cortes in 2021. A bear was spotted in Squirrel Cove a little over a week ago, but there have been many sightings on Cortes over the years. They normally do not become problems.

Newton told Campbell River’s city council, “Whether the bears are seen or not, they are there in every area of Campbell River. You can bet on that for sure. The dogs will quite often keep them more sneaky and nocturnal. People think, oh, you can use a bear banger to chase a bear off of your garbage and it won't come back. You cannot haze a bear off of an attractant once it's getting into that food source.”

He explained that because of the mild weather this year, the bear’s natural food (grass, dandlions, etc.) is still abundant. They have had no reason to leave for higher elevations. The bears are still in town.

“We play a role in trying to keep the bears safe from people, people damaging the bears by leaving attractions available and causing the bears behaviour to change. Then we try and keep people safe from the bears,” explained Newton.

“We get called to the worst cases. When bears are breaching houses, breaking into cars, acting in the threatening aggressive behaviour towards people and in the worst of all, when they actually do attack people and cause personal injury.”