Members of the Mountain View BearSmart Society are advising residents to remove all bird feeders from their yards, as they have been attracting bears into the area.
Jane Bicknell, secretary for the society, said birdseed is a high calorie food and bears will not pass up the opportunity, especially during this time of year when they are preparing for hibernation.
“There's plenty of natural seeds and bird food available for birds in the summer months, so when bears are out of their dens you don't want to attract them into your yard,” said Bicknell.
“You always have to remember that if a bear finds something to eat in your yard he will remember that and he will be back.”
Fish and wildlife officers have set a few bear traps in the Sundre area in the past few weeks, but no bear has been caught, according to Sundre and Olds fish and wildlife officer Adam Mirus.
As of Wednesday, all the traps that had been set up were removed.
“We had one that was down the Burnstick Lake road towards Bearberry. We had a trap there for about four or five days, but that bear never came back,” said Mirus.
On Sept. 1, a bear was reported getting into garbage and bird feeders on a property located on the east edge of Sundre. On Aug. 22, a black bear was reported getting into bird feeders in the Elkton area.
On Aug. 18, a black bear was reported knocking down bird feeders in Bergen Springs Estates. The same bear returned to the area three times in the same day, a resident reported.
There were also bear sightings in the Sundre area reported on August 29 and 30.
“If a bear is in your yard, the best thing is to try and scare that bear away. You don't want to make it a good experience for him to come into your yard,” said Bicknell.
“You don't want him to find something to eat, be it birdseed, compost, garbage, apples, fruits on the trees and bushes.”
She advises people to keep fruit-bearing trees picked and if fruit falls on the ground then it should be picked up and brought inside, not left in the yard or on the deck.
“If you don't have anything planted now and you're considering it, consider something that's more ornamental that doesn't grow large fruit,” she said.
Using an air horn or a bear banger to scare the bear away is also advised. Bear bangers can be purchased at sporting good stores, she said.
“You have to make sure when you fire it off that it lands in front of the bear and scares him away from you, not back towards you,” she noted.
Bear spray is best used in a close, surprise encounter, she added.
“You don't want to go out and purposefully get close to a bear and spray him – that's just dangerous.”
Other alternatives include making loud noises by banging pots and pans together, or firing off a paintball gun.
“Anything that creates a loud noise…but you don't want to be putting yourself out there in danger when you're making that noise.”
She said the number of bear sightings is normal for the Sundre area during this time of year, as they are preparing for hibernation in November.
“There is a big push now for them to eat as much as they possibly can, so they do spend a lot of time moving and looking for food,” she said.
“If there's lots of natural berries out there, great, but they're very opportunistic and they won't pass up a food source, whether it's your bird feeder or the garbage or whatever,” she said.
She noted that people living in subdivisions should especially remove bird feeders and other attractants from their yards, to be considerate of their neighbours.
“They also have to remember they may be drawing a bear into the subdivision and putting everybody else at risk too.”
For more information, visit www.mountainviewbearsmart.com.
