Meet Your Blueridge Neighbours: Humans and Bears
Holly Reisner
Executive Director, North Shore Black Bear Society
Originally published in the March 2024 Blueridge Community News
If you are new to Blueridge, you will quickly realize that you have found a warm, welcoming community with people from all walks of life. Another part of the community that you may not have considered, but which we hope you will soon grow to value as much as the people, are black bears.
Blueridge borders on forests and has ravines and green spaces running through it. These are wonderful spaces that allow us the privilege of walking, running, and mountain biking amongst nature. But they are not just our recreational areas: they provide homes to black bears and other wildlife. As the human residents of Blueridge and of the North Shore in general, it is our responsibility to learn how to co-exist peacefully with these animals, since they are our neighbours and an important part of our community.
Black bears often live close to urban areas. Unfortunately, one reason is the availability of unnatural food sources: garbage, organic (food) waste, bird feeders (seed, suet, and hummingbird), unharvested fruit trees, and others. We must learn how to carefully secure these bear attractants, as every year bears are killed for accessing human sources of food: as a rule, bears trapped on the North Shore are not relocated; they are killed. The availability of this unnatural food also disrupts a bear’s life cycle by interfering with denning: each year we see bears that are active throughout the winter because they can have the occasional meal from our bins. Why hibernate if there is food available? Additionally, the bylaws in the District of North Vancouver prohibit feeding wildlife, even inadvertently, and provide significant fines for doing so.
But another reason bears choose to live close to us is for protection. The dominant male black bears will typically occupy prime habitat deeper in the forests of our watersheds. Female bears with cubs are pushed closer to our cities to avoid these male bears, who may kill their cubs to facilitate mating with the female. So, she rears her cubs in and around our municipalities to keep them safe. There is ample habitat and natural food sources such as grasses, dandelions, berries, insect larva, and salmon for them to thrive in the green spaces and forests close to us. It is sadly ironic that bears may be killed for living here when they do so for safety.
At the North Shore Black Bear Society, our mission is to prevent unnecessary bear deaths by providing education on the nature and habits of these peaceful animals and to support residents in securing their wildlife attractants. You may see us at our booth at community events (such as Blueridge Good Neighbour Day), presenting in classrooms for children of all ages, at other community groups that invite us, and doing door-to-door canvassing. If we knock on your door, please understand that we are there to support you by teaching you about your wild neigh-bears and how to live peacefully together with them. We may leave written information for you.
Our website is a great place to learn about these beautiful animals and how we can share Blueridge peacefully with them.
We also encourage you to report any sightings of bears, coyotes, cougars, bobcats, and other wild species to us via our website www.northshorebears.com, by calling or texting our cellphone at 604-317-4911, or by calling the DNV’s Bear Line at 604-990-2327 (press 2). These reports allow us to track the wildlife activity in our neighbourhoods and know where support is needed. Additionally, we try to respond to nearly all reports so we can offer information specific to your needs.