23 Bears Destroyed So Far This Season
Black bear lurks around a garbage can in Cottonwood Island Park earlier this summer – photo 250News
Prince George, B.C. – A slight drop in the number of bears destroyed so far this year in the Prince George area over last year.
According to the Ministry of Environment, 23 black bears were destroyed from July 5 to September 9 this season.
That’s down seven bears over the same period last year and a sharp decline from the 57 euthanized in 2014.
Dave Bakker, president of the Northern Bear Awareness Society, attributes the drop to environmental conditions.
Numbers courtesy B.C. Ministry of Environment
“We’ve had two mild springs in a row. We’ve had two decent natural food crops in a row for 2015/2016, and from what we’ve been able to determine it’s a great contributor to keeping the early to mid season numbers low.”
He says the abundance of a natural food crop has also kept calls to the Conservation Service lower than normal (506 from July 5 to September 9 this year compared to 758 last year) yet cautions the 2016 season is far from over.
“If I were a betting man, I would say the number of calls from the end of August to mid-October will almost equal the same number of calls in a three-month period.”
Comments
The only two things on the increase in this town is Bears and Crows. Crows eat bird eggs and baby chicks and Bears are great at finding calves and fawns. And humans are at the center of this problem and are doing nothing to correct it.
So before humans crows didn’t eat eggs and baby chicks, and bears didn’t do what bears do, well okay then.
Let me guess, you are a vegetarian?
Some people notice how bad the Bear and Crow problem has become and others do not. Years ago it was not like this, you did not wake up and see 100 crows on your front lawn or half a dozen bears on a nature walk in the city. The dump is the major source for the crow problem and as far as the large bear population, that I am not to sure of. Usually lots of food and no hunting means lots of animals.
There was a study done in Durango Colorado over several years that suggests urban black bears have higher than normal reproductive and survival rates when their diet is supplemented with unnatural food sources.
We are for 40 Years at this Place and I never had as many Bear Encounters than this Year, lucky for me ,I was able to chase them off, if next Year turns out the same I will reduce the Numbers (Bears) on my Land. Something has to change and it’s not me
who invites all the Bears on to my Place! Personal Safety comes First, Bears last!
Does this mean Chicago no longer has a professional football team?
So, if the bears are eating fruit off the trees, they are not interested in eating humans. if you get between them and the cubs, well then the mama bear will do what they need to do. So, instead of killing the bears, educate the people to stop leaving garbage around and pick the fruits and deal with it, instead of leaving them on the tree.
If you truly want to enjoy watching wildlife, you have to do your part as a responsible northerner. keep the garbage out of the bears way. pick the fruits. Than the bears will do other means to feed themselves. Their population is regulated by food supply.
Not something that I do very often and I hope it is acceptable but would like to share these links as they can provide more detail.
http://www.animalliberationfront.com/Philosophy/Morality/Speciesism/BearsCanCount.htm
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/grizzly-bears-can-use-tools-study-shows-1.2743906
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bear-caught-opening-truck-door-on-video-1.1304934
These animals have a level of intelligence that we are just starting to understand. With that said, is it not possible the we can “teach” them that they can no longer find food around humans.
In the words of Dr. Stephen Herrero “What has a dead bear learned”?
It is time for the buck passing to stop and some real management to take place. If your in charge of the wildlife management you have to do some “real” management. We need to get someone in there that can do this job. Because nothing so far has been working. We are over run with Crows and Bears. This means no moose or song birds.
It’s definitely time for an open season on crows.
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