Display at Northern Bear Awareness Society  talk  at Prince George Public Library – photo 250News

Prince George BC- It’s that time of the year, bears are waking from hibernation  and they are looking for  food.That means  it’s time  for  Prince George residents to  take steps to ensure hungry bears  don’t  take the easy way out  to get  food.

The Northern Bear Awareness Society  offered plenty of advice on how  to avoid having bears come to  your  property  to find  food.

“A bear’s sense of smell is 7 times greater than that of a bloodhound” said  Haneef Abdul Rehman  as he lead those in attendance in a course one might  call “Bears-101”.  From the types of bears  around the world,  to their  life cycles, and what  to do should  you come across a bear,  Abdul Rehman  presented  an informative,  and at times humorous,  talk about  the species.

At this time of the year,  bears  are emerging from their dens and in Prince George,  there have already been  8 sightings,  5 in the past two weeks.   One third of the bear sightings so far this year involved  bears  accessing  attractants left by humans.

While bears will eat nearly  anything,  it was pointed out that their  natural  food sources,  such as berries, clover and dandelions  are low in calorie count when compared to  the  food humans throw out.  “During Hyperphagia ( when bears are packing on the pounds to prepare for hibernation)  they require about 20 thousand calories a day” said Abdul Rehman  “That’s about the same as eating 36 Big Macs a day.”

So if a  pound of raspberries  provides about 229 calories,  it’s not a stretch to see why bears  would opt  for  one pound of  black oil  sunflower seeds from a birdfeeder, which  has about 2,485 calories.

“The best thing we can do is to change our behaviours” said  Abdul Rehman ” secure your garbage and if possible  put it out in the morning of  pick up instead of overnight,  take down the birdfeeders,  don’t leave dog food outside”   Once a bear has found  the  easy source of food,  they will return to it,  and  that leads to problems.  He also  advised not to put meat,  fish or dairy  items in compost.

The Society has a fruit exchange program  that is usually in full swing at the end of the summer.  The program links those who  have fruit they don’t want,   to those who  do want it. ( check out their facebook page)

Last year,  there were 900 calls to  the Conservation Officer Service about  problem bears  in Prince George,   and 42 bears were destroyed.

Dave Bakker,  President of the Society  says  there is no relocation program for bears found to have been “habituated” to  rooting through garbage “They are destroyed,  and a female with  her cubs in that situation,  well, the whole family is  destroyed.  So the message remains the same, ‘a fed bear is a dead bear.”