Kelowna Bear Aware Program

[Treblehook]

If Bear Aware is a failure, it seems to me that pressure on the local government[s] to strictly enforce the bylaws regarding garbage and complaints to our MLA about insufficient funding and cutbacks in CO's would be important. Maybe a suitable fine would convince people to store their garbage properly and to put it our the morning of pickup. Those two things alone would do a great deal in terms of reducing the presence of bears in residential settings. People can be so thoughtless and stupid as you have said. The bear that was attracted to our neighborhood last fall was huge and when he was foraging in the garbage outside a neighbor's condo, it would have been very easy for someone exiting one of the other units to have startled this animal, which could have, and probably would have ended very badly.

[fall]

If Bear Aware is a failure, it seems to me that pressure on the local government[s] to strictly enforce the bylaws regarding garbage and complaints to our MLA about insufficient funding and cutbacks in CO's would be important. Maybe a suitable fine would convince people to store their garbage properly and to put it our the morning of pickup. Those two things alone would do a great deal in terms of reducing the presence of bears in residential settings. People can be so thoughtless and stupid as you have said. The bear that was attracted to our neighborhood last fall was huge and when he was foraging in the garbage outside a neighbor's condo, it would have been very easy for someone exiting one of the other units to have startled this animal, which could have, and probably would have ended very badly.

Yes, if bylaw actually went and fined people to help send and enforce a message that would get way more results but what are the chances of them doing that, slim. There is a shortage of conservation officers for sure and they cover a vast area and deal with a lot more than bear sighting complaints. They really do not like to put any animals down and for every one you read about being put down the majority of calls are ignored and the bears live on. Even if all the garbage were to be kept inside garages you are still going to get a few interested in fruit trees and things like that but they would not be near as habituated as they are now. The bears wander through our property almost nightly and a lot of times drag peoples garbage up and rip it apart creating a surprise for me in the mornings, I can sometimes tell who the garbage belongs to by mail, etc and just throw it back on their lawn or knock on their door and return it to them or have even had them come and clean it up. I have been startled by them more times than I can count over the years now and they are way more startled to see you and usually run or wander off. Have had a couple that would just stare and snort at me but eventually sauntered along on its way. I have yet to hear of a bear attack in a residential area. People just tend to over react. What I would like to see is a deer cull, now they are a nuisance, had 8 all at once a few days ago and the record that I have seen was 11 at once in my yard, they make short work of any plants and flowers let me tell you!

[baconbits]

The Bear Aware program is not part of the CO Service. Do not contact the CO Service about it - they are already lobbying to get Bear Aware funding back from the municipialities and regional districts that cut funding to it.

I've already got an email back from the COS. They have given me the local CO's contact information. The program does require support from the local COS as well as the local regional district.

[Darlin06]

*removed* I posted this in the South Okanagan forum but I'll post it here too! Hope my neighbours read these forums...
I understand that sometimes these officers have to do things that even they don't like. Fine. But these animals come down because of all the stupid idiots out there who leave their garbage out and don't clean up after themselves. These are also the people who are the first to call and report the animal lurking in their backyard that needs to be shot. Then, they *bleep* and complain because too many animals are being destroyed. There's 2 houses on my street, including mine that don't put our garbage out days before. Every other house on my block does, including a local veterinarian!!! How many times have we woken up and there's trash all over the cul de sac or our grass that doesn't even belong to us?

These people who cause these situations to happen, are the ones who need to be shot and/or relocated themselves. Or at least start handing out fines to these idiots.

[Woodenhead]

Have a bear den near our place, right on the property. It never bothers us or our animals. *shrugs*