Help keep people safe and wildlife wild

Bear Number 5

Brendan Cox, Public Affairs Officer, Justice and Solicitor General

Wild animals have the same basic needs as humans — food, water and shelter. Garbage, bird and pet food, and smells like grease and food residue on barbecues attract bears to our communities. This is the story of how one bear became dependent on unnatural food sources carelessly left in the open.


The bear, referred to as number five, has been part of the BearSmart Monitoring Program. Bear number five entered the program in the fall of 2012 when she started getting into apple trees. Property owners had been failing to remove the ripe fruit. The BearSmart program kept a close eye on her, and Fish & Wildlife Officer John Clarke scared her off with his Karelian bear dogs when she attempted to come into town for food.

However, the signal from her ear transmitter soon started to weaken when she emerged from her den in spring 2014, which made it harder to pinpoint her exact location. Transmitters last about 18 months, and plans were being made to trap bear five and fit her with a new one, but reports started coming in from Hillcrest and Blairmore about a black bear getting into unsecured garbage. Officers and the BearSmart volunteers worked countless hours to trap this bear, hoping it wasn’t bear five.

However, officers finally spotted the bear in the flesh and recognized it as bear five. Now a number of things had to considered. First, the bear was now proven to be dependent on garbage and other unnatural food sources casually left out by residents. This meant she would likely only find her way back into people’s garbage, apple trees, bird seed and other such things, even if she was relocated. And with the inevitability of her coming back into populated areas, the bear would become a danger to residents. For these reasons, the bear was unfortunately euthanized in June.

Fish and Wildlife Officers and volunteers spent countless hours monitoring bear number five with the express intent of avoiding this sort of outcome. But ultimately, more cooperation is needed from the public to successfully live in peace with these animals.

You can help keep people safe and prevent bears from becoming a danger to people by taking these steps:

• Put garbage in containers that have tight-fitting lids (bear-resistant), and put them out only on the morning of garbage day, not the night before.
• Frequently wash garbage cans and recycling containers and lids with a strong smelling disinfectant.
• Fill bird feeders only through the winter months.
• Do not leave pet food outdoors.
• Avoid landscaping with trees, shrubs or plants that produce apples, berries or other foods known to attract bears.
• If you must have these plants, pick all ripe fruit.
• Keep the grease-catcher on your barbeque clean, or keep your barbeque in your garage.

We all need to be responsible for preventing human-wildlife conflicts. There is a bylaw in effect to keep residents and wildlife safe. And it only takes small changes to our daily lives to help protect these animals. Your help can keep people safe and wildlife wild.

If you see a bear, please notify an officer by contacting the 24-hour Report A Poacher line at 1-800-642-3800 as soon as possible.