It was a busy morning at the Sooke Region Museum on Friday Sept 19.
Debbie Read, the community coordinator for WildSafeBC, hosted an Electric Fence Workshop outside the museum.
Frank Ritcey, the Provincial Coordinator for WildSafe BC, educated the class of 30 how to build a complete Electric Fencing system.
People attended from all over the CRD region, wanting to learn how to prevent conflict with wild animals such as bears, cougars and deer. Many in attendance have experienced problems with wildlife and wanted to learn how to minimize human-wildlife conflict. They all commented, “we learned a lot here today!”
Whether it is the chickens we keep in the backyard, fruit trees, bees or livestock, we have a responsibility to manage them in such a manner that it is sustainable and has minimal impact on the wildlife that shares the landscape with us.
WildSafeBC strives to learn and to share about how we can reduce human-wildlife conflicts in all of our day-to-day activities. This electric fence workshop will help people in our community. The electric fence is a sure way to discourage wildlife said Read.
Those who attended understood that removing the wildlife is a short-term solution. Other wildlife will take the place of the wildlife just removed. A longer-term solution is to either manage the attractant or set up a barrier between the attractant and the wildlife. Preventing these conflicts makes our communities safer and more sustainable. The program strives to educate in order to prevent wildlife from lingering in our urban areas.
Debbie Read
Capital Regional District WildSafe BC Community Coordinator