As a volunteer society we, the Northern Bear Awareness Society (NBAS), have encouraged a proactive program that hopes to reduce human-bear conflicts in the city, and feel the need to respond to the recent proposal from city council to allow extra garbage bags to be collected from residences.
For ten years NBAS has sought the support of city council to eliminate or deter bears' access to residential waste material.
We acknowledge the support the city has given NBAS to attempt to reduce bears in Prince George, but we see the proposed extra garbage bag initiative as one that will generate more conflict.
The addition of a bag laying exposed makes it easier for a bear to snatch the bag and run to a secluded location.
We think this is a step backwards in any attempts to reduce wildlife-human conflict.
We at Northern Bear Awareness have provided the city and its residents with education to stimulate awareness and the need for a proactive solution to the human-bear conflict. By raising awareness that residential waste is the main cause of conflict in our city, we encourage many to secure waste materials. By securing non-natural attractants, bears will have no reason to stay within the city. A comment released in the local media suggests that this service will be offered during the spring and fall months, months with the highest bear activity. The Provincial Bear Aware program reports that 40 to 60 per cent of complaints the Conservation Officer Service receives about bears during the year are garbage related.
Northern Bear Awareness does not support this motion put forward by city council. We suggest that any initiatives addressing residential waste be directed towards reduction rather than increased waste volumes.
To date, any changes that have been applied have proceeded at a painfully slow pace. The longer human-bear conflicts occur in Prince George the greater the chance one of these encounters will result in a serious incident and if this incident can be linked to current policies within the city, it will leave a scar on the city of Prince George.
The Northern Bear Awareness Society of Prince George is requesting that mayor and council reject this plan. We think it is a step backwards and will only result in increasing the reactive response of authorities as they will have no recourse but to destroy bears that wander into residential neighborhoods.
Sincerely
Dave Bakker
Northern Bear Awareness Society
Prince George
