Stop shootin­g innocent black bears in Powell River, B.C.

­Stop shootin­g innocent black bears in Powell River, B.C.

Powell River is a small city on the coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is surrounded by ocean and forest. Many different species of wild animals are native to these forests. This includes black bears.

Black bears are incredibly intelligent creatures. Contrary to myths prevalent in Hollywood and popular culture, these bears are not mean or vicious. Their nature is to avoid contact with humans, typically running away or climbing up a tree in fear when confronted by humans. Residents of these areas are taught to be bear-aware, however actual attacks against humans by black bears are extremely rare. One is much more likely to be killed by domesticated dogs, bees or lightening than a black bear.

These bears' keen sense of smell leads them from the forest into the city to feed on unsecured garbage and compost, or unpicked fruit and nuts. They will return to any steady source of food, even if it happens to be in a populated area. After repeated forays into the city, they eventually lose their fear of humans and more often come into plain sight. They are then labeled as “nuisance bears” and shot. Being labeled as nuisances obscures the fact that the real nuisance is the improper and unsanitary storage of refuse by residents of Powell River.

In the fall of 2015 over 30 bears were unnecessarily shot and killed by city conservation officers. Among the killed were mother bears and cubs. In some cases cubs were left motherless. Without guidance and protection from their mother, their chance of survival is slim.

Having encroached upon their natural habitat, the city of Powell River must take responsibility for its consequences on the area's wildlife. Rather than summarily killing “nuisance bears,” policies must be in place to reduce the likelihood of human-bear conflict, and to peacefully remove bears found in populated areas. The city should pass – and enforce! – a comprehensive ordinance requiring people to secure their garbage and compost and to pick up fallen fruit.

Although the British Columbia Wildlife Act already gives conservation officers the power to enforce measures to remove food sources attracting wildlife, this is not the approach often taken in Powell River. Instead, shooting individual “nuisance bears” is seen as an acceptable response, rather than the humane removal of individual bears while attacking the causes of bear incursions. This “shoot first” approach is not only cruel to innocent bears simply seeking sources of food, but is shortsighted in that the underlying problem is allowed to fester. This leads to more and more human-bear conflict situations. The passage of a local ordinance to remove sources of food attracting bears must be accompanied by enforcement guidelines targeting the violators of the sanitary regulations rather than bears simply following their natural instincts.

Accordingly:

• The signers of this petition urge the city council of Powell River to pass an ordinance requiring the removal of nuisance sources of food or garbage attracting bears, and for the conservation department to enforce these measures rather than focusing on harmless incidents. And that conservation officers should never shoot bears (except in cases where a human is directly endangered) but, when necessary, use their authority to relocate individual bears lingering in populated areas to more remote areas having sufficient natural food sources for them to thrive.
• Those of us living elsewhere who might wish to visit this beautiful area, hereby pledge to boycott Powell River as a tourist destination until the city adopts such measures.