Bear-resistant. Not bear-proof.
A Blueridge resident is sharing video of a local black bear breaking into his garbage bin, suggesting the District of North Vancouver could do more to keep hungry bruins out.
The video, which was shot in the morning of Sept. 5, shows a healthy-looking black bear amble up to the bins. After about a minute of futzing with the organics bin, which the owner has fastened with padlocks, the bear moves onto the garbage bin, pries open the lid and makes off with a plastic bag full of God-knows-what.
“Common problem where we live. The bins the district provide have very soft brass clips to lock the lid. No effort for this guy. If they were steel, they would not bend. Then the bear would not have easy access to garbage,” Terry Weaver wrote in the caption.
Not included in the video is Weaver coming outside and making noise, which caused the bear, who is well-known as "Bob" in the neighbourhood, to drop the garbage and take off.
Weaver said he was impressed with Bob knowing to flip the bin over to get easier access.
“Short of picking the locks with lock picks, it's really smart,” he said.
Weaver acknowledged that it’s a tough time for bears as they try to put on weight for winter while the local blackberry crop shrivels on the vine.
“The feed is limited, so I feel for the bear,” he said.
North Shore Black Bear Society responds
The video provides a teachable moment for everyone living in bear country, said Holly Reisner, co-executive director with the North Shore Black Bear Society. The society is currently waging a campaign to get North Shore residents to clean up anything that might draw bears into conflict or non-natural food sources.
Using padlocks or stronger clips would make it more challenging for the bears to get into garbage and therefore more likely they’ll move on and look for an easier target, Reisner conceded, but that wouldn’t address the root of the problem.
“It would be easier to ask the district to provide a solution for us, but this is not feasible, certainly not in time for the fall season of hyperphagia,” she said. “Having said that, you cannot bear-proof the garbage bins we have. A determined bear would have opened the lid of that garbage bin with the padlocks on by bending the lid back.”
The surest way to keep bears out of your bins is to make sure there aren’t any odours wafting out of them in the first place, Reisner said.
The best solution is to store bins inside a garage or shed, if possible, and keep organics indoors until collection day. The most odorous organics including meat, bones, fish and grease should be frozen until collection day, and food packaging should be washed out before being disposed of.
But the Black Bear Society also urges people to scrub all of their bins with vinegar after they are emptied.
Baby diapers, which are potent attractants, should be “emptied” into the toilet before being wrapped well and stored indoors until garbage day.
“The extra effort we request residents to go to, to make their garbage and organic waste unappealing and inaccessible to a bear, is the responsibility we shoulder by living in bear country,” Reisner said. “The payoff to us is no more strewn garbage to clean up, and the knowledge that we are helping keep these beautiful animals safe and healthy.”
Fed bear, dead bear
On Sept. 1, B.C. Conservation Officer Service members euthanized an emaciated bear that had been wondering around the Lynn Creek neighbourhood. The CO and a wildlife vet consulted by the Black Bear Society speculated it may have been suffering from a partially blocked digestive tract, which almost certainly would be caused by ingesting plastic garbage.
The bear in the video has a tagged ear, indicating it has had dealings with the B.C. Conservation Officer Service already in the past.
