The BC Conservation Officer Service is reminding residents of the South Cariboo area that bears will be re-emerging soon - and are telling people not to leave any sort of food behind that could get a bear food-conditioned.
They state that with the “loss of the snow” and warmer weather, bears will begin to come out looking for food early this year. The website Bearsmart.com notes that bears typically eat “plants, insects, fish and animals.” However, many other potential sources of food can be left by humans.
They are called attractants, which include garbage, bird feeders, BBQs, pet food, and freezers. Conservation officers are telling the public that it is time to start securing attractants because if they are not properly secured, a bear could “easily find and access them and become food conditioned to those types of attractants” according to the BC Conservation Service.
Joel Kline is a BC Conservation field officer based in the Cariboo Thompson zone - which includes 100 Mile House. He said that bears that end up getting close to those attractants, posing a safety risk to people. If it becomes a safety risk, BC Conservation has ways to deal with the bear.
“We have safe options, such as using traps, live traps, and in rare occasions we may have to dispatch them.”
Under British Columbia’s Wildlife Act, it is illegal for anyone to feed what is categorized as “dangerous wildlife” - the legal definition of which includes bears. Penalties for such an infraction include fines, according to Kline.
“The violation of attracting dangerous wildlife to your premises is worth $230.”
It is also illegal under the Act to “intentionally feed dangerous wildlife, or place an attractant to attract dangerous wildlife.”
BC Conservation can also legally order companies or individuals to clean up attractants - as they have the authority to issue a Dangerous Wildlife Protection Order which does just that. The penalties for not obeying such an order is worth $575, according to Kline.
Kline says that they have yet to see any sort of incident regarding bears when it came to attractants so far this year.
“It will come soon, but we have not received those types of calls yet.”
