SFU has been recognized for its effort in working with Conservation Officers over the past two years, in order to maintain a “bear-proof” campus. Conservation Officer Jack Trudgian told Burnaby NewsLeader that SFU has done an “awesome job” to ensure that garbage bins are secure, as to avoid attracting bears onto campus.
Given that the SFU Burnaby Campus shares Burnaby Mountain with many wildlife creatures, it is important to remind SFU staff and students of circumstantial hazards, such as bear encounters. “Bears will move on if there’s no food,” Trudgian said. As long as garbage is properly disposed of, bears should not be tempted to enter campus.
Last month, three bears in particular raised concerns after being spotted around Burnaby Mountain Secondary School. The two cubs and their mother were monitored closely by Conservation Officers, and are believed to have returned back to the mountain, away from the public.
Another incident in Surrey saw a bear attack a llama and a goat over the course of a single weekend. According to Conservation Officer Jack Trudigan, the bout of warm weather we got earlier in the spring could have brought bears out of hibernation all at once, as reported by News 1130.
“We’re getting more calls in the Surrey, Burnaby, [and] Langley areas than we do on the North Shore and the North Shore usually generates most of our bear calls or bear sightings. It’s really [difficult] to predict why this is,” Trudigan said.
According to the BC Ministry of Environment website, “Conservation Officers are usually forced to kill ‘problem’ bears,” in order to ensure public safety. However, the website states that officers would “rather prevent ‘problem’ bears from being created in the first place.”
If a bear has not grown accustomed to eating garbage or human food, it is easier for Conservation Officers to manage the bears, as they have no other interest interacting with humans unless there is food at stake.
Other methods used by Conservation Officers to deter bears include firing flare guns to scare the bears away, rubber bullets, and anti-riot batons. These techniques are known as “Aversive Conditioning” and are used to teach the bears to associate humans (and their food / garbage) in a negative way.
As stated by the BC Ministry of Environment, problem bears cost BC taxpayers more than $1 million each year, “responding to bear complaints and relocating or destroying bears.”
Pierce Ficzycz, supervisor of the SFU Student Campus Safety Program, said, “Due to the geographical location of the university bears will always be present; however, all we can do is reduce potentially dangerous interactions with these wild animals by educating the university community.”
