Canadian authorities have been forced to kill nine bears in three days in the town of Revelstoke because they were attracted by garbage cans left unsecured by residents.
Conservation officer Dan Bartol, who helped kill the bears in the British Columbia town, said the animals had wandered too close to humans, with one coming within a few feet of a toddler in a garage.
“I had to make the most difficult decision I had to make in my career, and that’s to destroy the exact object I’m working so hard to protect,” he said.
Bartol said the majority of residents in the town of 7,000 did not have bear-proof bins and he was still hearing about bears breaking into people’s houses.
According to the Revelstoke Bear Aware group, bears become increasingly active in the summer and their keen sense of smell allows them to identify potential food sources from considerable distances.
The group’s website said the town had long had a bear problem, with 23 bears killed in 1995, but in recent years the average annual number had been fewer than seven.
The city of Revelstoke was not immediately available for comment.
Bartol told the Calgary Herald: “The common thread here is garbage and fruit trees, and that’s creating attractants for bears to come in to the town, because there’s nothing to stop them — there’s no deterrent at all.
“The bears know there’s easy food to be found, and they come down looking for the fruit trees that everyone has to have for some reason, and they get into garbage that’s not secured properly, and then this happens.”
In a information brochure posted online, the town said its bylaws stipulated garbage containers must be dry, odour-free, with lids, and could not be in a location accessible by wildlife unless left for collection.
With Reuters
