Be Bearsmart

Alberta is bear country. No matter where you live or spend your leisure time in this province – even in urban areas – you will be near bears or bear habitat. We see them on the side of the highway, on logging roads, on the way to a campsite, in the bush when hiking or working, and even in cities and towns.

The entire life of bears revolves around food. Bears in Alberta spend 5 to 6 months in their winter dens and lose 10 to 30 percent or more of their body weight. Their survival and ability to raise young depends on them eating enough to regain that weight before going back into winter hibernation. Depending on snow cover and outdoor temperatures, bears emerge from their winter dens between mid- March to early May in our counties. Once out of their dens, bears spend most of their time looking for food, taking advantage of any succulent and protein-rich foods. While bears will eat carrion, deer fawns and moose calves, insects, and fish, the bulk of their diet is plant material. Their natural preference is to find high energy food – like huge berry patches in the late summer – that will help them fatten up fast. When natural food sources are poor, bears will travel long distances to seek out alternative sources of food. Bears have a keen sense of smell and are attracted by the odour of human food and garbage. Bird seed, pet food, greasy barbecues and ripe and decaying fruit and vegetables are also invitations foraging bears find hard to ignore. They will topple bird feeders, ransack barbecues, and raid garbage cans to access these low-effort, easily-accessible food sources. Seeing a bear can be one of the most memorable experiences, but we humans must ensure that we don’t place ourselves and the bears in situations where either could get hurt.

BearSmart at Home

Residents of Mountain View County and Clearwater County share their land with bears, cougars and other wildlife – this is true whether you live on an acreage or farm or in a town or village. The numbers of people and bears on the landscape in Alberta has increased in recent years and human-bear conflicts occur. With a few changes around home, residents can do their part to ensure humans and bears can coexist and to minimize the possibility of encounters or conflict with bears. If a bear finds food in your yard, it will remember and it will be back – this endangers you, your children, your pets and your neighbours. A fed bear usually ends up a dead bear – at fault is the human. Bears are constantly on the move in their search for food – if they don’t find it in your yard then they will keep moving.

If you don’t want a bear in your yard, follow these BearSmart best management practices:

Garbage must be stored in a bear-proof container when left outdoors. Otherwise, store indoors (basement, garage, sturdy shed) until you can take it to the waste dump. If you have municipal garbage pickup, only put it out on the morning of garbage pickup day, not the night before.
Fill bird feeders only during the winter months.
Feed pets indoors and do not leave pet food or dishes outdoors.
Cooking odours can attract bears. Remove grease and food residue from barbecue grills after each use, including the grease cup underneath. Where possible, store the barbecue in the garage or other sturdy building.
Avoid landscaping with trees, shrubs or plants that produce fruit or berries known to attract bears (e.g., apple and crab apple trees; raspberries, saskatoons, etc). Replace fruit bearing trees and shrubs with ornamental species. Otherwise, pick fruit and berries as soon as they are ripe and do not let them fall on the ground to rot.
Place your garden out in the open, well away from the forest edge and game trails to help discourage bears. Harvest the garden as soon as possible and do not leave vegetable matter in the garden to rot. Consider erecting electric fence around the garden to keep bears out.
Composting is great for the environment but its content or odour may attract bears. Use a bear-proof container or erect electric fence around the compost bin to keep the bears out. If you can’t do these things then don’t put fruit, kitchen waste, meat, dairy, oils or eggs into outdoor compost.
Erect electric fencing to protect your bee hives, chicken coops or other small animal enclosures. Be sure to maintain the fencing, chargers and batteries.
Ensure that granaries are well constructed and the doors are sturdy and well maintained. Invest in retrofit grain hopper systems for added security. Clean up all spilled and waste grain as soon as possible. If spillage is unavoidable, locate storage facilities well away from areas of human use and bear habitat. Erect electric fence around granaries and storage facilities.

Even if you follow all these BearSmart practices, you may still get a bear travelling through. It is important that you make your home and property an unpleasant place for a bear to be and teach it to avoid humans. Make loud noises to scare the bear away – yell, bang pots & pans together, sound an air horn or loud piercing whistle, honk the car horn, set off bear bangers, whatever it takes. Always make sure you do not place yourself in danger by doing any of these things.

If you have a shelter where your kids wait for the school bus, make sure it is well away from the forest edge with good lines of sight so they can look around to check for bears – do the same all along your driveway. Have the kids carry and/or sound an air horn or whistle when they walk the driveway. When the kids arrive home after school, make sure they and the bus driver take a good look around for bears before they step off the bus and have the older kids keep their smaller siblings close together as they walk up the driveway. Make sure you teach your kids about how to react should they encounter a bear or cougar.

Develop a network with your neighbours to help keep each other informed about bears in your area – by telephone, email or social media. Work within your neighbourhood and community to encourage others to manage their garbage, bird seed, dog food, anything that might attract a bear. Keep alert and enjoy the opportunity to see these magnificent animals in their natural habitat.

BearSmart Outdoors

The arrival of warm weather every spring increases opportunities for people to once again take part in a wide range of outdoor activities from barbequing, gardening, walking the dog, hiking, biking, fishing and camping. In any outdoor activity or even going to work, you may encounter bears. It is the perfect time to remember to Be BearSmart.

When hiking, recreating, living or working in bear country, the best strategy is to avoid an encounter with a bear or other wildlife in the first place. Follow these BearSmart best management practices to avoid encountering bears and other wildlife while enjoying outdoor activities:

Travel with others and make noise – talking loudly, laughing, singing, sound a whistle or air horn as you move through wooded areas will alert bears and other wildlife to your presence so they can move out of your way. Always let people know where you are going and how long you plan to be gone in case they have to come looking for you.
Carry bear spray and know how to use it. Children can carry and sound off a noise maker (whistle, air horn). Keep them readily accessible on your belt or the outside of your pack.
Learn to recognize and watch for signs of bears such as tracks, scats, diggings, torn open anthills, torn logs and stumps, rolled logs and rocks, and claw marked trees. If these signs are recent, calmly and quickly leave the area.
When walking your dog, keep it close by and under control. Uncontrolled and off-leash dogs may lead a bear back to you or be injured by the bear.
Be alert to the sounds around you and do not have your headphones on or earbuds in listening to music etc.
Carry any food in sealed, airtight, odour proof containers in your back pack and pack your garbage out the same way.
Be extra cautious in berry patches during the fall or avoid them altogether.
When biking, choose trails that are clear with long sight-lines. Remember a bike is quick and quiet and may surprise a bear. Ensure you can quickly access your bear spray.
When picking your campsite, avoid areas along wildlife travel routes such as rivers, creeks and lake shores and avoid areas containing bear foods such as clover, horsetails, berry patches, etc.
When camping, eliminate or reduce odours from yourself, your camp, your clothes and your vehicle. Cook and sleep at sites that are at least 100 metres apart. Never cook, eat or store any food (including snacks), cooking equipment or toiletries in your tent. If you are sleeping in a tent, try not to sleep in clothes you have worn while cooking meals. Carry your bear spray on your belt at all times while in camp.
Keep your campsite clean. Do not leave food or drinks out on the picnic table. Use dried or precooked foods that have less odours. Use odour proof containers to store food, drinks, toiletries, toothpaste, pet food, and garbage – store containers in your vehicle. Hang food 3-4 metres off the ground and more than 100 metres from where you sleep. Never abandon, burn or bury food scraps. Pack out your garbage.
Be alert when fishing as bears use rivers, creeks and lake shores as both travel routes and feeding sites. Fish with at least one other person and stay in contact with each other.
Clean fish well away from your campsite. Seal fish in plastic bags or odour proof containers and wash your hands well

Bear Safety

Here are some great safety and fact sheets from the Alberta Government, Alberta BearSmart program:

How to Stay Safe in Bear Country
How to Stay Safe in Cougar Country
Electric Fences and Bears
Chickens and Bears
Bees and Bears
Fruit Trees and Bears
Composting and Bears

Bear Signage

MVBS, in collaboration with AEPA and the two counties, erected signs along county roads to remind residents and visitors that Mountain View and Clearwater is Bear Country and that a bear can be encountered at any time.

If the presence of a bear or other wildlife is a human safety concern or causing damage to property or livestock, call Fish & Wildlife for assistance at 1-800-642-3800 (24 hour, toll-free Report A Poacher line) If the situation is a public safety emergency, call 9-1-1