Whitehorse Daily Star

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ANOTHER SIGHTING – This bear was seen by Gentian Lane, south of the Carcross Cutoff, on Victoria Day. Electric fencing has proved to be an effective deterrent to the bruins. Photo by DENNIS SENGER

Meandering bears keeping C.O.’s hopping

Its been a busy spring for calls about bears,

By Chuck Tobin on May 26, 2017

Its been a busy spring for calls about bears, says veteran conservation officer Ken Knutson.

It may not be the busiest he’s ever seen, but it’s been busy, up to three or four calls a day busy, he explained in an interview Wednesday afternoon.

Knutson said some calls are simply to report bear sightings, while others report concerns or problem bears.

Park officers spent the long weekend keeping an eye on the Wolf Creek Campground to ensure campers were properly storing food and such, as a black bear sow and her cub were frequenting the area.

A pair of black bears has been seen in the Mary Lake area, though it’s not clear if they are siblings or mates.

A call Wednesday, for instance, was about a black bear on the Annie Lake Road that was on an old bison hide, though it was gone by the time Knutson got there.

“I goes to show you: you can’t leave anything in your yard that bears might be attracted to,” he told the Star.

Conservation officers have set out a bear trap in the New Constabulary subdivision of Marsh Lake because a black bear has been up on the decks of area homes, Knutson said. The first complaint was around how the bear got into a bunch of bird seed.

Knutson emphasized how the use of proper fencing such as electrical fencing to protect livestock, is also an important step to ensure bears don’t pay the price for simply being out and about looking for food.

With the dry spring, vegetation has been slower to green up, so bears are having to wander further afield to forage, he suggested.

Bears, said the conservation officer, tend to wander at this time of year in any case because it’s mating season.

Knutson said household attractants not properly managed or livestock not properly protected can attract bears that could become dead bears.

Two more bears were shot over the Victoria Day weekend after bothering livestock.

A conservation officer shot a black bear last Friday after it killed a goat in the Hidden Valley subdivision. A resident of Mount Lorne shot a black bear on Monday after it raided the property’s chicken coop.

Neither of the properties were fitted with electric fencing, Environment Yukon pointed out in a release Wednesday.

Knutson said electric fencing has proved to be an effective deterrent for bears.

There have been six bears killed this spring because they’d become a concern to public safety or a nuisance for whatever reason

One of them, shot by an RCMP officer in Beaver Creek, was a grizzly bear which initially got into the community dump because the electric fencing wasn’t working.

It was later shot outside a home where bones had been thrown out.

Comments (8)

Up 3 Down 0

westofbelfast on Jun 1, 2017 at 11:41 am

June: No attractants mean no bears looking for easy food. The source of the attractants are "the populace" as you put it so they are at fault. Pretty easy to manage your garbage and livestock. As for relocation bears, that is expensive and where do you relocate them to? They are very territorial and dropping one and it's cubs in another bear's territory is not a good idea and they have in the past returned hundreds of kilometres from the relocation areas to their home turf. Yukon has a lot of wild areas so relocation success is greater here but still, if we look after our own junk then that is the quickest, easiest, and cheapest solution.

Up 21 Down 2

Dean Larue on May 29, 2017 at 11:39 am

Resident of New Subdivision : EEK ! A Bear ! What are you doing here ?
Bear: I don't understand. I've always been here.

Up 23 Down 1

Stu Miner on May 28, 2017 at 5:33 pm

Poor bears and beaver and other wildlife.
We are encroaching on wildlife habitat and providing attractants which bears cannot resist. They always get the short end of the stick and many are shot by the COs. It's not progressive and many people are selfish because they create the situations that get the bears killed.

Up 13 Down 18

June Jackson on May 27, 2017 at 10:55 pm

Bears can be relocated.. but they don't.. they kill the bear AND their cubs, they kill beaver's.. if it can't shoot back, they kill it, then make it the fault of the populace.. its OUR fault that THEY shot a bear, and another one, and another one..etc. Those animals could have been airlifted to tim buck too.. Not one of them was a mercy kill.

Up 31 Down 8

westofbelfast on May 27, 2017 at 9:11 pm

Start charging people consistently under the Wildlife Act for attracting dangerous animals and make electric fencing mandatory.

Up 29 Down 8

Shannon Emslie on May 27, 2017 at 7:13 pm

I cannot believe people seem to forget that we have encroached on wildlife areas and not the other way around.
Until people get off their high horses and recognize what an honour it is to see wild animals.
Learn to live in harmony folks.
There is a lesson from first nations here.....at least the elders who respect nature for what it is.

Up 43 Down 13

Joe on May 26, 2017 at 9:35 pm

It's sickening to hear bears getting shot because irresponsible back yard farmers don't take the necessary steps to protect the bears. Natives to this land, bears are shot over cheap $10 dollar chickens or imported goats. The owners should be fined huge amounts of money for attracting bears, no different than baiting them with honey or garbage. Kill the chickens and goats- not the bears

Up 39 Down 13

Jasper on May 26, 2017 at 6:13 pm

If I had a thumb I would write this comment myself but I passed it on to a friend of mine to explain.
I am a bear, I lived here long before you. You took my food away from me and my land. I am happy to live with you, but do not tease me with your garbage in your yard. You choose to live with me, so please accept the rules of the land.
And a other thing, do not report me every time you see me because one of us gets killed every time you do that. We would very much appreciate being relocated to a place as far as possible from you.
Thank you for understanding me.

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