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.