Human habituation and human food conditioning have resulted in 12 bears being destroyed this year in the Squamish area. When wildlife becomes habituated to humans, it's usually a slippery slope toward human-wildlife conflict. The process of a bear becoming human habituated can occur over a fairly short period of time. If a bear encounters people on a regular basis and there are no negative repercussions associated with these encounters, the bear starts to tolerate human activity and basically, gets used to being around people. Bears soon lose their normal wariness of humans and even though they are still wild animals, they are now habituated to humans and human activity.
Food conditioning occurs when a bear is attracted to human-generated food. The smells bring them into our neighbourhoods and despite the risks associated with foraging in highly populated areas, the prospect of a caloric reward will eventually outweigh the risks. When a bear receives a food reward and there are no negative repercussions, it becomes food conditioned. Human-habituated and food-conditioned bears have learned to forage for food in densely populated areas. These are the bears that are typically destroyed due to the increased potential for human-bear conflict.
Over the past few years, Squamish has experienced an increase in cougar-related activity. Typically, cougars do pose a higher level of public safety concern and it's no wonder that most residents are more concerned about cougar activity than they are about bear activity. However, it is important that our community doesn't contribute to the habituation of bears by being too tolerant to their presence. Dangerous wildlife (bear, cougar, coyote and wolf as defined in the B.C. Wildlife Act) should not be allowed to feel comfortable in our neighbourhoods. We are not helping bears by allowing them to eat from our fruit trees or nap in our yards, both of which contribute to the habituation and food conditioning of wildlife. It's all about tolerance levels and finding that middle ground where our community is porous to the wildlife that we share habitat with. Wildlife must be encouraged to move through and not get stuck within our neighbourhoods. For more information on how to keep wildlife moving through your property, please contact: [email protected] or (604) 815-5066.
