What to do when encountering a black bear...


I should clarify my previous entry for those of you not from Canada who may not be aware of the recent incidents in and around a suburban area of greater Vancouver, the municipality of Coquitlam. On August 7th a black bear mauled a woman on the front step of her house within city limits. She suffered non-life threatening injuries including severe bite wounds to her arms, legs and torso, and required hospitalization. The bear was shot and killed by conservation officers.

The very next day another black bear (a large male) broke through the window of a basement suite and was killed by police when it charged them. Numerous reports of similarly bold bear behaviour in this same area continue to be reported. (You can read the full news articles on this subject here: http://www.canadaphotosafaris.com/newsreleases.htm )

There's also a very interesting account by another lady who encountered a black bear the week before in the same area...

Quote CBCnews.ca:

'Dominika Rutowski told CBC News that she and three others encountered a bear Sunday in a nearby forested area.

"It was growling at first, but then, when it was coming closer to me, it wasn't," she said.
She tried to scare it away, but it moved closer, she said.

"I kicked it in the face, because it started getting really close to me."

With the help of her dog, the four people chased the bear away, but it followed them as they left the area.'

YIKES!

Let's take a closer look at this account because I think it is a good example of two different types of behaviour that bears can exhibit when coming into contact with humans.

Dominika describes the bear as "growling at first." It is very typical for bears to growl, whoof and chomp their jaws when startled. This behaviour is usually demonstrating fear in the bear and will often occur when it suddenly encounters an unknown threat, human or, most often, another dominant and/or competitive bear. 9 times out of 10 a black bear displaying this type of behaviour will run away, climb a tree or even swim across a lake or river to get away from the perceived threat.

Dominica goes on to describe the bear as getting quiet and approaching so close that she had to kick it in the face! A bear that makes no sound and boldly approaches closer is likely demonstrating predatory behaviour.

I believe that what happened in this incident is that the bear was initially startled by these people, (possibly thinking there was another dominant bear around) but then looked up and saw that it was "only humans," a conditioned response to repeated non-threatening encounters. It then approached fearlessly, in a predatory mode, hoping to secure food either from the people (perhaps it had been hand fed before?) or by eating one of them. I think Dominica was very fortunate that she had the dog and her friends with her to drive the bear off. It seems likely that if she was alone (and worse if she is of a small stature or a child) and she had turned to run, this would have triggered an immediate "chase" response in the bear and, consequently, a mauling.

Dominica then goes on to say that the bear continued to follow them as they left the area. That's what predators do! This is not a lonely bear looking for a buddy to hang out with!

Numerous times in wilderness areas, I have had encounters with black bears that seemed to be calm and relaxed, made no sound, and would appear and then disappear into the woods, often circling, and sometimes getting closer. This is definately predatory behaviour where the bear is "sizing me up" and trying to decide if he can take me down without getting injured himself. In wilderness areas, bears have had few encounters with humans and have not been conditioned to believe that we are not a threat. They are generally unsure of themselves and not confident enough to attack.

If you experience this type of behaviour with a bear, watch out! You should NEVER, EVER RUN!! Seeing a potential meal suddenly fleeing, will instantly trigger a chase response in the bear's brain and result in a mauling. It is generally far better to stand your ground and demonstrate to the bear that you indeed are a threat. Make yourself as big and tall as you can. Don't yell or freak out (especially women with high squeeky voices!). Talk to the bear firmly and confidently. Be confident! The bear can "feel" your confidence and it will become less sure of itself. If you are with a partner or in a group you should all stay together to form a united front against the bear. If you have a dog, keep it with you, don't let it chase the bear. If the dog gets in a fight with the bear it might turn and run back to you for help!! Back away from the bear slowly and steadily, talking to it, and then leave the area. Never leave food to distract a bear. This will help to condition the bear to seeing humans as a food source.

My experience has been that a whoofing, growling, chomping black bear is not usually a threat. A bear standing up on it's hind legs is just trying to get a better look or a scent to determine what you are. Let it know what you are. Show it that you are not a deer or marmot or some other regular prey species.

I have never been mauled by a bear (thank God!) but if I was attacked by a black bear that had been demonstrating this type of predatory behaviour, I would fight for my life! You can play dead if you want to, but you might just be making his meal easier to eat.

Keep in mind that I am talking about BLACK BEARS here. Grizzly and polar bears are a very different story, but that's another blog entry.

Let me finish by saying this: Bear attacks in Canada are rare and can be avoided by the majority of people even when travelling in bear country. Some simple rules are:

1. Never travel alone.


2. Make some noise while walking through the woods so you don't startle a bear suddenly at close range.


3. Never feed a bear or leave food in and around camp.


4. Carry bear spray and learn how to use it, it works!


5. Women be extra careful when menstruating.


6. Never run from a black bear.


7. Check for bear alerts in National Parks before hiking and camping.


8. Hire a guide.

So what’s with all the bear activity in Coquitlam??

There’s a lot of chatter these days following the recent increase in bear activity and the mauling of a woman within the city limits of Coquitlam (a suburban area near Vancouver). With all the opinions and comments being thrown about, I thought I should way in on the issue…

Bear maulings are relatively rare in B.C. and an attack on a human within city limits, (it occurred on this ladies front step!!) is exceptionally unusual. Isolated incidents can happen anywhere and at anytime, but a further incident occurring the very next day resulting in another bear being shot by police, seems almost impossible to believe. Also surprising is that this second bear was a large male. Most problem bears are usually juveniles that haven’t yet been able to establish their own territory and feeding sites away from their larger and more dominant competitors. Continued high bear activity within the city would definitely suggest that something out of the ordinary is going on here. These kinds of scenarios are usually due to a combination of factors that eventually lead to a disastrous event.

It is not always easy to predict animal behaviour, or even explain it after the fact, but perhaps if we take a look at the big picture, we might understand some of the possible influences at work here. Firstly, it’s fairly common knowledge that bear populations in the west have been generally high for some years and that the west coast has always been prime habitat. As our human population continues to grow and suburbia expands deeper and deeper into bear habitat, bear-human encounters are bound to increase. It’s a classic case of the pie that gets smaller while more people (and wildlife) want to get their piece of it. Exacerbating the situation is the huge increase in human presence in the woods. There are more people than ever enjoying outdoor activities such as hiking and camping, and consequently, there are far more human-bear encounters in the woods. Also of significance, is that the kinds of encounters have changed, particularly for the bears. Historically, most people that encountered bears were experienced woodsmen, hunters, trappers, surveyors and prospectors. Generally these people carried firearms and knew how to use them. Even without a firearm these people made sure that an encounter with a human was a negative experience for the bear. Bears learn from their experiences, especially at a young age, and it significantly influences their future behaviour. It’s a simple formula: Bear + Human = Bad (fear/pain/threat) therefore Bear avoids Human. It’s a bit different these days. An individual bear might encounter humans far more often than in the past, but these encounters are often no longer negative to the bear. They may be completely neutral (the bear has no reason to assume fear) or they may even be a positive or pleasant experience if the bear receives food, pleasant odours or the human demonstrates behaviour toward the bear that is interpreted as subordinate or even “prey like”. The more encounters like this that a bear experiences, the bolder it will become. This process is known as conditioning. A female that has lost its fear of humans through this type of conditioning will teach its cubs right from the beginning not to fear humans and the cycle repeats exponentially. If you think this sounds like a bad scenario, you’d be right! But it gets worse!

For the most part bears will stay away from human “habitat,” but when external factors that are completely out of human control increase stress levels, bear behaviour can change significantly. Usually, this is due to a lack of seasonal foods within their natural habitats. Berry crops can fail when a late frost kills the flowers preventing pollination, or very cool, wet weather will reduce or stop berry production. Runs of spawning fish can be low or completely lost due to fluctuating water levels, slides, industry or disease (did I hear someone mention sea lice from farmed salmon?)

So, let’s take a look at what factors might have led to the recent occurrences in Coquitlum:

We’ve already established that the bear population is high in this area and that bear-human encounters of a neutral and/or positive nature for the bear are common. This sets the stage for potentially dangerous bear behaviour with the addition of external stress factors. We’re all keenly aware of the unusual weather patterns we’ve experienced in recent years and I believe that this is one of the major factors here (and will likely continue to influence all manner of bizarre wildlife behaviour in the future.) Western Canada experienced an unusually late, cool spring which retarded the growth of vital early season grasses and forbs. This was occurring during a critical period for bears when they emerge from their dens and attempt to replenish depleted fat reserves. I recall, during the month of May, hearing unusually high reports of bear sightings around human habitation where the only green grass was available, particularly around Whistler and Vancouver. So these bears were already experiencing the conditioning process way back in May. Later, throughout the spring and early summer, record cool and wet weather continued and reports from farmers throughout the lower mainland of total strawberry crop failures were on the news. Now I don’t live on the coast, so I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that the bears current berry supply is low due to this unseasonably cool weather and record high rain falls. I’d like to hear from someone down there what the berry crop situation is right now. In the interior where I live we’re having a bumper crop of all species of wild berry crops and the bears have more food than they could possibly eat.

There is one more factor involved in this scenario that I haven’t touched on yet. We have to wonder why we’re hearing about so many bear incidents in the city of Coquitlum and not in any of the neighbouring cities that seem to be in exactly the same situation. The reason is remarkably obvious….garbage! It seems that the city council has, for some time now, been having problems with the company contracted to pick up garbage. Apparently, IPI Industries has been acting in breach of its contract to pick up domestic garbage on its scheduled days and times. As a result, cans of deliciously stinking garbage have been sitting out on front yards and driveways for extended periods of time this summer. The smell of rotting, household food waste is more than a starving, half tame bear can resist!

I think it would be unfair to blame any one of these single factors alone for the incidents and very sad results that have occurred over the past few days. But combine them all together and you get a very clear recipe for disaster. Having said that, if I owned a company that contributed to an increased risk of public liability and a third party was hospitalized as a result of that risk, I’d be looking for a good lawyer right about now.

More on winter survival and feeding.....


Ungulate populations (deer/elk/moose/sheep) have been steadily climbing over the last ten years since the horrific winter die off of ’96-’97. That year, in the Grand Forks area alone, we lost at least 80% of our mule deer herd, virtually all whitetails that lived outside urban and agricultural zones and the bulk of the northfork bighorn sheep herd. The fallout from major ungulate die offs like this can be acutely felt as the food chain crashes like a deck of cards.

Predator species, particularly cougar (mountain lion) that had been enjoying high prey numbers throughout the west suddenly had to change their behaviour and search for food in the limited areas where prey species still survived. The increased competition in small concentrated zones (particularly urban/sub-urban/agricultural areas) created high levels of stress due to hunger, territory overlap and physical conflict between individuals. Consequently, this resulted in a sudden predator population crash by the end of winter 1999. Highly adaptable species, like the coyote, seem to weather these fluctuations well and soon bounce back quickly, if ever really suffering much at all. Specialized species, like cougars, on the other hand, don’t fair as well due to their limited “niche” options. Scientific research suggests cougar cycles to be around 40 years, so we don’t expect their return of high numbers, in the Kootenay/Okanagan at least, until perhaps, 2040! Some areas, including the Cariboo/Chilcotin and the West Coast/Vancouver Island areas, which did not get hit so hard by the ’96-’97 ungulate die off (or at least recovered much faster) still seem to have healthy and even high cougar numbers.

The good news is that a series of mild winters over the last 10 years has helped to contribute to a healthy return of ungulates throughout all of northwest North America. This is also due, in no small part, to the contribution of human activity including winter feeding programs, winter range habitat improvements, low elevation logging, prescribed burning and increased clearing of the forest to mitigate fire hazard around urban areas. The current mountain pine beetle epidemic, although disastrous for our forest-resource based economy, will increase useable ungulate habitat tremendously. The expected increase in frequency, intensity and size of future forest fires due to high fuel levels (a result of both beetle killed pine forests, short sighted forestry practices like the suppression of natural forest fires and the effects of global warming) will also increase the area and the quality of ungulate range habitat by opening the forest crown and allowing the growth of forage grasses and browse. With the ever increasing population of ungulate prey species, large top predator populations are sure to follow. This is already clearly evident in many areas of British Columbia and Alberta where wolf, grizzly and black bear encounters and sightings seem to be more common every year.

Winter feeding programs by wildlife lovers, conservation groups and sporting organizations contribute tremendously to mitigate the natural extremes in ungulate population cycles. I have recieved criticism in the past from individuals who consider our valuable wildlife resource to be merely pests that eat gardens and crops, and threaten to collide with speeding vehicles, and from some government agencies who are only concerned with legal and liability issues. However, conservation groups and organizations, including Canada Photo Safaris, concerned with the overall health of our wildlife continue to maintain and promote winter feeding programs.

Cold weather alone doesn’t always mean low winter survival. Generally, as long as animals and birds are able to forage for food, they can handle the cold pretty well. It’s the depth of snow and its condition that are critical for survival. Deep snow that requires great effort to walk through and dig down through to reach grasses and browse creates significant physical stress. Crusted snow conditions, when mild temperatures melt the surface layer and then freeze hard again, are deadly. There are few more pitiful sights than watching a deer trying to run from a pack of coyotes as it struggles to break through the crust with each step. The much lighter coyotes easily race across the surface to catch up to the deer and tear them apart. Large packs, and smaller family units, of coyotes will kill a lot of deer during these periods of dangerous snow conditions.

Winter '07-'08

Hello everyone,

Well it’s been a long time since updating this blog. It’s been quite a year for Canada Photo Safaris and as spring approaches it looks like 2008 and is going to be full on too!

As the melting snow seeps away and streams fill with run off, I like to reflect on the winter’s activities, the survival rates of wildlife populations and the general health of the animals during this critical regenerating period. As I write this, I can hear the migrating songbirds that have returned to the feeders outside my office window and the wild turkeys “gobbling” on the mountain above my house, sure signs that winter’s onslaught has come to an end.

Overall, I’d say this winter was moderate to mild throughout most of the northwest. Eastern Canada is certainly a different story and I hear on the news people are still digging themselves out from late season snow storms. Despite having a “la ninia” weather pattern (cold pacific jet-stream from the arctic) this year, snow falls at low elevations were generally low here and this means most ungulate populations didn’t have to struggle overly hard to forage for food. Fawn winterkill rates seem to be fairly low and adult health and condition seems to be fair to good, which should result in good recruitment levels (fawn births) this summer. This year’s local Gilpin winter range helicopter count, by the ministry of wildlife, resulted in the highest ungulate numbers in over ten years. Species counts included whitetail and mule deer, bighorn sheep, elk and moose. We’ll have more data available after our annual deer count in April.

Ongoing winter feeding programs throughout several areas of BC continue to mitigate winter die offs and ensure the good health of fawn-bearing, adult, female ungulates entering the critical spring regeneration period. I have been feeding whitetail deer, mule deer and wild turkeys on my property in Grand Forks for over 15 years and have been actively involved in other local feeding programs for deer and bighorn sheep for just as long. This winter, my program helped to support approximately 20 deer, some 45 wild turkeys and uncountable small bird and mammal species, including at least 1 flying squirrel. I try to provide a variety of feed types to maintain good health and nutrition and limit daily amounts to promote foraging of natural foods and keep dependency to a minimum. Depending somewhat on the supply at the time I generally feed alfalfa hay, alfalfa pellets, mixed grain (whole corn, wheat, oats, barely) wind-thrown apples and cull potatoes. I have also provided mineral supplements in the past but find that they don’t use it much until the spring, at which time it is in very high demand, presumably to promote summer coat and fetal fawn growth. During hard winters I have counted up to 48 deer at my feeders at one time! You can imagine that this is can be a considerable expense to myself and Canada Photo Safari’s budget….I think it’s worth it, a wise investment into the future of our wildlife resource.

We did get some very cold spells during the winter. I was photographing bison in northern Alberta with Wendy and Marcus Adams, from New Zealand, in January. The thermometer read -42’!! Fahrenheit and Celsius are the same at that temperature. Despite equipment issues at that temperature we did pretty well and got some fabulous photos.