Environment Yukon conservation officers are once again renewing their call for Yukoners to reduce bear attractants around their properties and while camping.

"It's really busy, and we're just asking people to be diligent,” Kris Gustafson, a senior conservation officer, said in an interview today.

"It's a bit frustrating because it's always the same thing: the bear's in my garbage. If the garbage wasn't available, the bear wouldn't be in it.”

Gustafson said bears are hungry at this time of year, noting the berry crop, while it should be coming in soon, doesn't appear to be very strong.

"We're receiving a large volume of calls, many of them involving bears being up on people's porches going through the garbage,” he said.

"The potential is there for someone to open their door and find a bear on their porch if that's where their garbage is stored.

"We're asking people to be as responsible as they can and do whatever they're able to do to make sure their garbage is not readily available to a bear,” Gustafson said.

Environment Yukon's bear incident map says 11 bears have been killed this year as of the past Monday, but the number is at least one higher now.

A black bear was killed Tuesday at Marsh Lake, Gustafson said, after it tried to break into a home.

Last year, only four bears were killed.

Gustafson has also received calls this week about:

• a bear in the Raven's Ridge area;

• a bear getting into garbage in Takhini;

• another bear killing livestock in Tagish; and

• bears in Carcross and Copper Ridge.

But Gustafson said he can't remember all the calls he's received, there have been so many. There are other conservation officers receiving calls as well.

There is a trap now set in Copper Ridge after Gustafson was called to the area twice during the early hours one morning this week.

At one point, he chased the bear through a construction zone.

"People have to understand that there are a lot of greenbelts in these areas, bears are very comfortable coming from a greenbelt into a residential area and then exiting back into the greenbelt,” he said.

"In this case, the bear just happened to go through a building that was under construction. It was in the middle of the night, so it's not like there was anybody in it.”

Gustafson has also received calls about bears in Hillcrest, and chased one through a few backyards.

"I chased a bear right through the middle of Hillcrest the other night; again, it was up on someone's porch.

"When I first saw it, it ran up on somebody's porch and then through their yard, over their fence and through another yard.”

Gustafson said most of the bears he and his colleagues have received calls about have involved black bears.

By Ainslie Cruickshank

Star Reporter