While temperatures are dropping, bears are still active in the Northern Capital.
“Generally most of the bears will start to enter their hibernation phase which is actually more of a topor,” said Lisa Cram, Northern Bear Awareness Board Member.
“They will start to enter their dens for the winter season. That said, if there is food readily available, such as garbage and other attractants, many bears will continue to remain active in order to put on as much fat as possible.”
Cram said her understanding is that if the bears aren’t fat enough, they’ll either delay hibernation as long as possible, or they’ll wake up early in search of food.
“We recommended at a bare minimum that people use a ratchet strap to secure their garbage bins,” she said.
“It’s not going to completely stop the bear but it will deter them and hopefully they move onto other sources.”
Cram said they also recommend putting bins in shed or garage, freezing smelly foods until garbage day, and reducing waste as much as possible.
Cram added they’re still pushing for bear-resistant garbage bins to be used in Prince George again.
“We have had a very enthusiastic private meeting with Mayor Yu, and we are still compiling information, putting together a presentation that we will be taking to council in the near future,”
“We still have our bear-resistant cart petition that is still gaining strength. Ultimately we want to have bear-resistant carts throughout all of Prince George. We understand there is a significant cost associated with them, but as we know there’s pros and cons to every situation, and there’s a significant cost associated with not having the bear-resistant bin.”
A pilot project done over three years in the Hart Highlands area of the City with bear-resistant carts was scrapped after eight per cent of carts experienced latch failures during the winter.
As of 5:00 p.m. today (Thursday), Northern Bear Awareness Society’s petition calling for bear resistant garbage bins to come back to Prince George has 9,578 signatures.
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