Cochranite Brenda Stebeleski has long enjoyed sitting in her picturesque English-style garden, a veritable bird sanctuary, and feeding the many winged species, as well as squirrels, with tasty bird feed, chalked full of high-protein nuts and grains.
Recently she realized her garden had become nothing more than an attractant for hungry bears searching for calories before hibernation.
Since Sept. 29, it seems that two bears have been wreaking havoc in Stebeleski’s yard — causing damage to her gate that backs onto Jumping Pound Creek in her community of Bow Meadows, as well as her bird feeders.
“We’ve never seen the bears,” she said. “We let Alberta Fish and Wildlife put the bear trap behind our back yard and by the next morning (Oct. 9), there was a bear inside.”
Since then, it seems another bear has caught on to it’s cohort’s discovery of Stebeleski’s yard, making nearly nightly appearances and leaving a path of property destruction in it’s wake.
But the home owner and animal lover doesn’t blame the bears — she realizes animals will be animals and said it’s up to people to bear-proof their yards; she also hopes the Town of Cochrane will look into more education programs about proper ‘bear care’ — not unlike the Bear Fair held by Glenbow Elementary last spring.
“I truly think the onus is on the property owners — I’m not going to put feeders out until it gets really cold in the winter (after the bears have gone into hibernation),” she said.
Stebeleski thinks it’s a shame that she and her neighbours are so ill-informed on how to bear-proof their yards at this time of the year — something that comes as no surprise to Alberta Fish and Wildlife officer, Ken Mackay.
“Relocating bears sometimes kills bears,” said Mackay. “Not only is there a cost to the taxpayer, but we might be relocating that bear into maybe an even bigger bear’s territory.”
Mackay emphasized that this is the time of the year when all bears are thinking about is food — and with winter approaching, the higher the fat and calorie-content, the better.
“Bears are going through a stage called hyper fascia, which basically means eating everything they can,” he explained, adding that bird feeders offer a cornucopia of high-fat nuts and seeds.
“What we tell people is that we can trap the bear . . . but this doesn’t fix the problem.”
Rarely do bears get a second chance; often bears who are repeat offenders wind up getting destroyed, something that Mackay said is always a tragedy.
“There’s nothing worse than having to destroy an animal that shouldn’t be destroyed . . . I would have to say that almost 100 per cent of the bears we deal with as ‘problem’ or ‘habituated’ bears are human-related.”
Mackay said its frustrating that people blame bylaw and Fish and Wildlife officers, rather than taking a few simple measures to remove bear attractants from their yards.
Proper bear prevention includes the removal of the following from yards:
• bird feeders and bird seed
• fallen fruit and berries from trees
• garbage
• dog food
• hummingbird feeders
• barbecue grease
• ensure garbage is properly stored in bear-proof containers and access to yards are reinforced
Something Mackay would like to see is the implementation of a bylaw that would prevent bird feeders and other feed from being out in back yards during waking bear season (early spring through late fall); such a bylaw has been in effect in Canmore since 2001.
“No person shall place or store bird feed outdoors between April 1 and Oct. 31 in Canmore,” explained Canmore bylaw community services officer, Greg Burt.
“It’s one of the many things we do to ‘wild smart’ our community.”
Other wild smart measures include bear-proof garbage bins (same in Cochrane); it’s also included in Canmore’s waste bylaw to not leave garbage or animal attractants outside, as well as not permitting off-leash animals in the town (there are three off-leash parks for dog owners).
Burt said that the majority of violations stem from new residents to the Canmore area, often families relocating from urban centres with far less back yard wildlife action; he said the cumulation of these bylaws have been very helpful at keeping bear trappings, back yard sightings and ‘problem’ bear numbers down.
Jamie Songhurst, community peace officer for the Town of Cochrane, said that it’s possible that Cochrane may eventually implement a similar bylaw to do with bird feeders and feed as Canmore has.
“It’s something we’re looking at,” she said, adding that bylaw services has been in talks with Alberta Fish and Wildlife officers. “I think in a community like ours, with quite a bit of wildlife and birds, that I like Canmore’s approach to taking bird feeders down for a portion of the year (not year-round).”
