Unfortunately there was no writer credit given to last week’s Bear Buzz article. PC double-speak and high comedy should be recognized. “Freeze your garbage,” really?
The writer suggests the solution to B.C.’s overwhelming and expanding bear population is to manage human bear attractants. This is a ridiculous notion since there is no such thing. Bears are curious animals with excellent noses and are attracted to ... everything. Instead of idiotic ideas like freezing your garbage, not having bird feeders, gardens or fruit trees, how about we not allow bears in urban and residential areas. After all, it is our habitat and why should we share it with an animal declared dangerous under the wildlife act?
The Ministry of Environment and Conservation Officer (CO) service created the problem with revised hunting laws when they knew the black bear population was increasing while the number of hunters was declining. The CO service responds to less than 20 per cent of their calls, truly an embarrassing statistic. Think of your police or fire department ignoring over 80 per cent of their calls to service.
What idiocy allows sign to be put up in residential areas with schools that declare “You are in Bear Country.” I’m sure all the kids and dogs will enjoy all the electric fences everywhere.
Blaming rural residents and citizens in small towns for having giant black rats invading is a lame way to manage game populations. Freeze your garbage, ha ha, good one!
Greg Klem
Port Renfrew