Conservation Officer Service

Bear Aware

Conservation Officer Response

COs Get a Bad Rap

During bear season, Conservation Officers (COs) respond to thousands of calls and complaints about bears. Most of these problems begin when people allow bears to access non-natural food sources. COs spend a great deal of time educating people about "problem" bears, but the problems still persist.

Unfortunately, because there are few alternative control methods, Conservation Officers are usually forced to kill "problem" bears. This creates stress for the COs who would rather prevent "problem" bears from being created in the first place.

Management Options

Managing "problem" bears is a tough job. Once bears learn how to access human food, they'll do almost anything to get it. Unfortunately, the management options available to COs are all short-term band-aid solutions. The only long-term solution is to prevent "problem" bears from being created in the first place.

Translocation is one management option available to COs. Bears are trapped, moved, and released into the wild. Translocation, however, is rarely successful as often these bears return to their original home territory or they become "problem" bears in other communities. In addition, translocated bears usually fail to adapt to their new habitat. They often starve to death or are killed by bears that already occupy the territory.

The Ministry may use translocation when dealing with grizzlies and females of either species (black bears and grizzly bears). Translocating grizzlies is usually more successful because there is more suitable habitat available for them.

Conservation Officers will consider translocation only if:

The bear can be captured without endangering the public, the Conservation Officer or the bear.
The bear is not aggressive toward humans.
Suitable bear habitat is available.
The bear is healthy and capable of surviving in the new area.
The bear has not grown accustomed to eating human food or garbage.

Trapping bears can be difficult because:

Culvert traps only work when the bear is hungry and there is no other food available for the bear (the success rate is low).
Snaring is an effective way to trap bears, but it can only be done in remote areas. A highly stressed, snared bear is a serious safety hazard to people.
COs can use tranquilizers when capturing bears, but the drug requires 6-20 minutes to take effect. During this induction time, bears can be a serious safety hazard. For this reason, free-ranging bears are not tranquilized. Bears are only drugged when they are caught in a snare or culvert trap or sometimes when they are in a tree.

Aversive Conditioning is another "problem" bear management option. It involves using deterrents to teach the bear to associate humans or human food with a scary or negative experience. Bear deterrents include: rubber bullets, plastic slugs, anti-riot batons, foul-tasting chemicals, electric shock, acoustic devices and trained bear dogs. In order to be effective, these deterrents must be used immediately after the "problem" bear behaviour and every time the bear behaves badly.

Aversive conditioning is most effective when it is used to prevent bears from becoming conditioned to human food. However, it is not considered effective in reducing "problem" bear behavior over time because it does not address the root causes of the problem (i.e. the bears' initial access to human food) (Graf et al. 1992; Herrero 1985; Heuer 1993).

"Problem" Bear Costs

"Problem" bears cost B.C. tax payers big money. The B.C. Conservation Officer Service spends more than $1 million every year responding to bear complaints and relocating or destroying bears. Property damage, which is not included in this figure, is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Bears damage household items, fruit trees, apiaries, livestock and vehicles.

New Legislation

There is now legislation in effect which can help prevent the creation of "problem" bears and provide public safety. Under the new amendments to the Wildlife Act , it is an offense for people in B.C. to feed dangerous wildlife (bears, cougars, coyotes and wolves) or disobey orders to remove and clean up food, food waste or other substances that can attract dangerous wildlife to their premises. Conservation Officers may issue a written dangerous wildlife protection order which requires "the removal or containment of compost, food, food waste or domestic garbage." If people fail to comply with the order they could face a heavy penalty of up to $50,000 and/or six months in jail.

Contact your local Conservation Service Officer if you are aware of anyone who is feeding dangerous wildlife and posing a risk to public safety.