Residents of Lake Country in the B.C. Okanagan are being asked to be on the lookout for an injured bear.
On Friday, WildsafeBC posted a photo to one of its social media sites of a bear with an arrow in its left shoulder.
The agency, which is dedicated to preventing conflict with wildlife, says the bear was spotted on Thursday in the Commonage Road area, approximately between Charolaise Drive and Terrace View/Juniper Cove.
“This bear was observed accessing unsecured garbage,” WildSafeBC said on its Central Okanagan Facebook page. “Additionally, a sow and yearling cub were observed accessing both garbage and birdseed, also in Carrs Landing yesterday.
“This is a reminder to please store your garbage securely in a garage, a shed, a bear-resistant enclosure or indoors.”
If you see the bear, you are asked to contact the B.C. Conservation Officer Service at t 1-877-952-7277.
WildSafeBC says unsecured garbage and other accessible unnatural foods, such as bird feeders and fruit will attract bears and can lead to conflict situations.
“In order to help keep the bears and the community safe, please do your part by managing attractants on your property,” said the wildlife agency.
Bear attractant management:
- Keep your garbage in or secured until the day of collection — garbage is the number one attractant cited in reports to the provincial hotline.
- Manage your fruit trees — don’t let windfalls accumulate and pick fruit as it ripens.
- Don’t put out bird feeders when bears are active — a kilogram of birdseed has approximately 8,000 calories and is a great reward for a hungry bear.
- Keep your compost working properly with lots of brown materials and a regular schedule of turning.
- If you have livestock or backyard chickens, use a properly installed and maintained electric fence to keep bears and livestock apart.
For more information about bear attractant management, visit this webpage.
According to WildSafeBC, the black bear is the smallest of the three bears found in North America but is a powerful and extremely agile hunter when it needs to be.
“For the most part the bear is driven by its insatiable appetite,” said WildSafeBC, “mainly because of their need to put on about 30 per cent of their post hibernation body weight to make it through the next winter’s sleep.”