227 bears euthanized across BC this summer

Photo: File photo

Eight bears have had to be destroyed in the Tofino-Ucluelet region so far this year — nearly triple the number from last year — and it could get worse as the bruins prepare for hibernation and become conditioned to easy food sources such as unsecured garbage and chicken coops.

Bob Hansen, co-ordinator with the WildSafeBC Pacific Rim region, said the bears had lost their fear of humans and started relying on pet and livestock food, garden fruits, outdoor freezers, bird feeders, commercial dumpsters — even uncleaned barbecues.

Two of the eight bears destroyed were shot last week after eating garbage from unsecured bins. Hansen said he’s been informed by the Conservation Officer Service that human-bear conflict calls are increasing.

Complicating matters, said Hansen, was a record year for visitors in the region and a summer heat dome that destroyed much of the inland wild berry crop and forced bears closer to the fog zone along the west coast.

“The bear activity increased after that,” said Hansen. “Most of the abundant berry crops are in our communities.”

Increasing human interaction and unsecured food sources can lead to a death sentence for a bear, he said.

The Environment Ministry said ­conservation officers destroyed 227 bears from April to August across B.C., including 74 black bears in August. Over the April to August period in 2020, 294 black bear were destroyed.

As hibernation draws near, Hansen said, black bears have a natural ­obsession with gaining weight to survive a near six-month sleep. This “hyperphagia” to store energy as fat is essential for bears to give birth and survive in their dens during hibernation.

They can consume up to 20,000 calories a day over about a month. Hansen said bears are typically on salmon-run streams, in berry patches or eating carcasses.

But if they get a taste for garbage or other easy food sources, bears will start to rely on it.

Vanessa Isnardy, provincial co-ordinator for WildSafeBC, which aims to prevent conflict with wildlife through education, said black bears are awake 20 hours a day and travel the landscape “with a food map in their heads.”

She said they typically avoid any human contact.

“If there’s an apple tree on their food map, they will eat from it. But when the fruit wanes, they might look at what else is available — sometimes that’s a garbage can left overnight.”