Prince George city council has requested a report from administration on possible solutions to minimize local human-bear conflicts.
City councillors discussed a letter sent by a resident calling for urgent action to address the city’s bear problem this year including a public awareness campaign, stronger enforcement measures and bear proof bins.
The Conservation Officer Service said it has received more than 1,200 calls since the start of August regarding human-bear conflicts in Prince George, leading to 21 bears being put down.
Blake McIntosh, director of civic operations, said the city has been sharing information with the public regarding bear awareness since the end of March. The city made nine postings to social media that had an anecdotal reach of 29,000 people on Facebook, 27,000 on Instagram and 2,800 on Twitter/X.
Since April 1, there have been 316 complaints received by the city’s bylaw department in relation to bears and 41 tickets and 19 warnings in the past few months.
Mayor Simon Yu asked why there have been so many more bears this year compared to previous years and if the city had any data on reported bear sightings. McIntosh suggested it may be because of an earlier berry crop and the hot and dry weather.
“I don’t like to see bears to be killed in our city so I would love to see more data and better campaign to see if we can reduce the bear fatalities,” Yu said.
However, McIntosh noted the onus for keeping bears away from their properties also lies with the residents.
“I think there is a responsibility on the public to ensure that their garbage is secure whether they put it in a building or use a ratchet strap to strap it down,” he said. “Part of the public awareness campaign highlighted that, and I think that if everyone does their part there would be less bear-human interactions.”
Coun. Ron Polillo inquired about the bear proof bins pilot project, which took place in 2019 and saw 300 bear proof bins used in a neighbourhood in the Hart.
McIntosh explained that the latching mechanism on those bins would freeze in the winter months and slow down garbage collection, so the style of can wasn’t successful.
“We need to look at a better solution that works 12 months of the year,” said McIntosh. However, he noted that bear-proof cans are about five times more expensive than regular containers and with 25,000 households in need of cans it could cost roughly $10 million.
“I’m sure the technology has improved but the cost is significant,” said Polillo.
Coun. Kyle Sampson noted that Canmore, Alberta, has a fruit tree incentive removal program that covers the cost of removing fruit trees from public property and suggested administration look into something similar.
“I’m definitely interested seeing recommendations come forward,” said Coun. Cori Ramsay. “I know Coun. Sampson and myself, were chatting with bylaw manager Charlotte Peters the other week and she had mentioned the city providing some straps for garbage cans, so rather than replacing all the bins we could provide each resident with a strap and a reminder on the time your garbage should be locked up."
“I definitely would like to see a report back with more than just the Canmore model but a variety of options as well.”
