WATCH: Okanagan Residents Urged to be Bear Smart

Bears are a common sight in the valley bottom at this time of year.

The animals are preparing for winter hibernation and forging through garbage bins and yards looking for food.

“They are coming down for a bigger food source and the valley offers a bigger food source especially garbage and fruit,” says Conservation Officer Josh Lockwood.

In West Kelowna’s Rose Valley Neighborhood, bear sightings have been quite common as of late.

“I have seen them. They have been in the parking lot where corner store is and I have seen evidence of bears in the neighborhood,” says area resident Dawn Gartrell.

But this is just one of many neighborhoods across the Okanagan and surrounding area dealing with an influx of bears.

Global Okanagan has received NewsHawk video from residents throughout the valley showing bears rummaging through garbage bags and bins.

While these kinds of bear sightings are common at this time of year, Lockwood says they can and should be avoided not only for public safety but to prevent the bears from being put down.

“It is nothing that an officer likes to do. It is the most distasteful job that an officer has to do,” says Lockwood.

Unfortunately once habituated to garbage, relocation he says doesn’t work.

“We have taken bears as far as Beaverdell and four days later they are back in the community,” says Lockwood.

So far this season, the local conservation office, which deals with the area between Kelowna and Salmon Arm, has fielded more than 500 bear calls.

It’s a number that will only spike in the coming weeks.

Lockwood says picking the fruit in the yard and not putting out garbage until pick up day can make a huge difference. All you have to do, he adds, is take a look at the communities with garbage bylaws as proof.

“Whistler has been successful in not having to relocate or destroy bears based on the bylaws in place. Those areas that have a bylaw don’t have the issues. It’s outside of those areas you have issues,” he says.