Conservation officers in Whitehorse received "dozens” of bear reports over the weekend, an Environment official said today.

There was a bear wandering down 12th Avenue in Porter Creek, bears trying to get into the Whitehorse airport field and one hanging around the Whitehorse General Hospital.

Bear sightings were most prevalent in Porter Creek, Crestview, Wolf Creek and the MacPherson subdivision, according to conservation officer Kris Gustafson.

"They were going well beyond the greenbelt areas where they are usually seen,” Gustafson told the Star.

"We got at least 12 calls on the tips line, and probably another 12 from the RCMP and the city.”

There were probably two or three bears that were seen and reported repeatedly, he said, but nevertheless, there were a remarkably high number of sightings.

July is a lean month for bears, he noted.

The young grasses that provide much of the bears' nutrients in the spring have matured and no longer provide the same food value.

As well, any berries left over from last year have either been eaten or have dried up by the end of June. The only berries available are the bitter soap berries, which bears love, and which are just starting to ripen.

"Since they FireSmarted Whitehorse, there are a lot of soap berries in town,” Gustafson said, but that is not the main attraction for the ursus americanus.

"They are attracted to the residential garbage and compost bins,” Gustafson said.

"I got a call from a guy on Tamarack (in Porter Creek) and when I got there, there was a big male black bear sitting in his driveway eating his compost. If he'd walked out of his house, he would have been just a few metres away from the bear.”

Conservation officers trapped two bears and relocated them, one from Porter Creek and one from the Cousins airstrip, Gustafson said.

They shot two others with rubber bullets to scare them off, but that is a temporary solution, Gustafson said.

"If you don't want them in your yard, then manage your attractants, particularly your residential garbage and compost,” Gustafson warned.

Although the city provides bear-proof garbage bins in parks and wilderness areas, the residential garbage and compost bins pose no problems for a curious bear.

With the recent spell of warm weather, compost bins ripen quickly and send out tempting food scents to hungry bears.

The Department of Environment's bear biologist has spoken with the city about investing in bear-proof containers, Gustafson said. But after purchasing and distributing 10,000 new garbage and compost bins fewer than three years ago, the city is unlikely to replace them anytime soon, city manager Dennis Shewfelt said today.

"We recommend to homeowners in the urban service area to keep the cans in the yard,” he said. "If your yard's not fenced, then it's a bit more difficult.”

The compost bins are particularly troublesome because they have air vents on the lids to release gas from rotting organic matter, but which also release tempting food smells.

Keeping garbage and compost in a garage or storage shed is probably the best solution, Gustafson and Shewfelt said.

"Regardless of where you are in the Yukon, you're in bear country and you have to be aware of that as a property owner,” Shewfelt said. "... We live with wildlife so you have to be aware and take some precautions on your own.”

"People sometimes ask, ‘Why don't you put up more warning signs?' but it would be easier for us to put up a sign where there isn't a bear,” Gustafson said.

Conservation officers in Whitehorse have killed two bears this year, he noted – one in Wolf Creek and another in Riverdale.

"We try not to shoot them,” he said. "It really doesn't achieve anything because killing a bear isn't going to change the fact there is garbage in your yard.”