LAKELAND - Bonnyville Fish and Wildlife are reporting an increase in bear reports after their calls nearly doubled between 2019 and 2020.
According to Kenton Yaceyko, Bonnyville district Fish and Wildlife officer, in 2019 local officers responded to 86 complaints relating to bears.
“In 2020 we documented and recorded 159, so between 2019 and 2020 we almost doubled.”
He added, “I would suspect the numbers may or may not be as high for St. Paul, but they would still be on that upward trajectory based on our 2019/20 figures."
In terms of the Lac La Biche region, Yaceyko said fish and wildlife officers there have been receiving bear complaints, sightings, and calls for almost a month.
“Based on the calls, I would say over the last couple of years we’re on the incline as far as bear numbers,” he detailed.
Their stats don't reflect the number of sightings reported, Yaceyko said.
“Typically, our calls are documented in two ways, one is human conflict where we might be dealing with bears that have some sources of food such as garbage, bird feeders, recyclables, barbecues, any petroleum products left out. We also have another reporting screen as far as property damage. That would be things like green bins, possibly crawling into the back of a vehicle and scratching a vehicle, or damaging a vehicle in one matter or another."
He continued, “Sightings we don’t typically document, that’s just for the mere fact that we know we have bears throughout the district."
Yaceyko explained how the bear population in an area varies year-to-year.
“Bears are somewhat cyclical, depending on food source... and depending on how the young of the year go into the den, you have winter mortality. If you’re having a rough fall that will attribute to survival and then that will attribute to what bears emerge in the spring," he outlined. “If everything goes right, those four bears that went into the den within the next two years could multiply into 10, depending."
But, he stressed, every year and every area are different.
For example, the first complaint they received this year relating to a bear was in February.
“Our second complaint came to us from the air weapons range in March, similarly that was the same thing, near an industrial site a bear was flushed out of a culvert,” Yaceyko said. “Those were really our first two. Since then, we’ve had a number of calls related to sightings in our local area, but we haven’t had any conflicts or property damage related to black bears."
When you come across a black bear
“Obviously don’t approach it, and don’t try and run away from it. Back away and make yourself look larger,” explained Yaceyko.
Depending on whether the bear has noticed your presence will impact your reaction. If you haven't been detected, Yaceyko suggests backing away slowly and leaving the area.
“If it has noticed you and it hasn’t been startled and moved off, then there’s nothing saying you can’t speak to it and slowly back away,” he detailed.
And if you're in a group, stay together.
Black bears don't tend to be territorial, explained Yaceyko, however if it's protecting a food source or its young it may show signs it wants you to leave.
“It might display behaviour associated to grunting or huffing as black bears do where they pop their jaw. Bears may swipe at the ground with their paws, have their ears laid back, those are things to identify that they’re trying to assert their dominance and their territory,” described Yaceyko. “In most instances that’s all it is, it’s more or less just a bluff-type of behaviour."
Yaceyko said while most people are aware there are bears throughout the Lakeland, there are some indications there's one in the area such as scat and tracks. Overturned rocks, scratched logs, torn-up ant hills, and fresh carcasses are other signs of bear activity.
Tips for keeping a bear off of your property and out of your campsite
Storing food, toiletries, and pet food in airtight containers, keeping garbage in plastic bags, burning any food scraps, hanging stored food in a tree, and never cooking or eating in or around your tent are some ways of keeping bears off of your campsite.
When it comes to residences, using bear-resistant containers for garbage and recyclable bottles, taking down bird feeders, cleaning your barbecue, removing fruit and berry-producing bushes from your property, and never leaving food out for wildlife are ways of avoiding attracting bears.
If a resident does find they have a problem, Yaceyko suggests calling fish and wildlife.
“Relocation is an option depending on what the conflict or property damage is. The degree of the complaint, if it’s a reoccurring thing. Typically, if it’s a minor or first instance and we haven’t had any complaints in a general area or in the local area of a complaint related to that bear, then quite often we will deal with the complainant by what the bears doing,” he explained, adding they will try and mitigate the problem by removing the food source or what's drawing the bear in the first place.
“Depending on the circumstances, we may do control action, we may set traps to do relocation, but quite typically we try and address the reasons for the conflict or the property damage and try to do the mitigation with the property owner that way, as opposed to capturing and relocating,” detailed Yaceyko.
He explained how even if they do trap a bear, they don't really have anywhere to take it.
"If I take a bear from Muriel Lake and take it to the bombing range, we already have bears there and we still have bears in Muriel Lake. We don’t necessarily have a place to relocate them where there isn’t already another bear."
If relocation is the best option, fish and wildlife have some factors to take into consideration such as the stress on the animal, whether the bear will be able to find food, a new territory, and of course, other bears.
"When we get to that point when we’re going to do control action most times when we’re going to be setting a trap to capture a bear that’s been habituated or is causing property damage, quite typically, depending on the circumstances, we’re going to be dealing with euthanizing," said Yaceyko.
Still call it in
Even though they don't record bear sightings, Yaceyko said fish and wildlife still want you to call.
“Phoning in a sighting does nothing other than letting local officers know where bears are being observed or how bears are accessing a particular location if they’re seen crossing a secondary road or a township road. Then if we’ve been dealing with a problem bear in a particular location, then obviously that helps us piece out things a little bit,” he expressed.
To report a bear sighting, call Alberta Fish and Wildlife at 310–0000.
