BEAR: Beware!!

(I thought I'd copy and paste my original Facebook post and the ensuing discussion I'm having with fellow bear enthusiasts about  their various wild encounters. So far we haven't seen him again. Let's hope!)

YIKES! I was sitting at my desk after dinner, when I heard a mighty crash. Then Bill yelled up the stairs, "WE HAVE A BEAR." Not so unusual, though most of them come into the back yard at night to sniff around for bird feeders or whatever they can get. Once in a while they come during the day, and you can usually scare them off with a loud noise.

But this wasn't the usual black bear - in fact it didn't look like any bear we had ever seen before.

It was a BROWN bear, a very large one with a fluffy brown coat (looked a little like a giant teddy). I have never seen a brown bear anywhere near civilization before. Not only did this creature pull over the barbecue and ravage it, he demolished a circle of cinder blocks which were arranged around our massive cedar tree. In more than 30 years of living with the bears, nothing like this has ever happened before. I couldn't believe how much damage it did.

It didn't want to leave, so I blew on the bear whistle as loud as I could, and it ambled off to find greener pastures or warmer barbecues. But if this beast starts terrorizing the neighborhood, we're going to have to report it. Little kids play out in the back yard in the evenings! At any rate, I was in a panic and did what anyone would do under the circumstances: I googled "brown bears in British Columbia", mainly to reassure myself this WASN'T a grizzly. This is what came up.

Yes, brown bears and grizzly bears are the same species (Ursus arctos), but they are often considered different subspecies or categorized by location and diet.

"Brown bear" typically refers to coastal populations with access to salmon, while "grizzly bear" generally refers to smaller inland populations. Both are Ursus arctos.

Coastal brown bears (e.g., Alaska/BC) have access to rich marine resources like salmon, allowing them to grow much larger. Grizzly bears live inland and rely on a diet of roots, berries, and small mammals.

Coastal brown bears can weigh over 1,000 lbs, whereas inland grizzlies are generally smaller.

Both have a distinct shoulder hump, dish-shaped face profile, and long claws. The name "grizzly" comes from the "grizzled" (frosted-tip) look of their hair.In summary, all grizzlies are brown bears, but not all brown bears are grizzlies.

A THOUSAND POUNDS?? If we have a grizzly bear's cousin knocking over our barbecue and nearly tipping over our giant cedar tree, I'd say we're in trouble.

Amber Hayward    We see black bears in our yard in the spring, usually young ones who don’t know how to get along in the world. They can be destructive like your grizzly, one demolished my compost bin. They seem to move on, so I hope yours does the same but wildlife officials might want a bear trap set up.

Margaret Gunning    I'd rather not, but then, if it's a safety issue (which it might be) - I spoke to a neighbor about it and he said it was nosing around in his yard before it landed in ours. The problem is, barbecue season is upon us, and we don't have a way to lock ours up, though we put a heavy cover on it (which he thought was a hat, I guess). The bird feeders are down until this blows over!

Amber Hayward    The trap doesn’t kill, usually the bear is relocated

Laura Redman     He’s a beautiful wild creature and you’re living on his planet, in his territory… get some advice from bear experts at conservation authorities or your wildlife ministry before causing him harm… understanding and sharing bear behaviour will save your peace of mind and your neighbours and the bear… all the best.

Margaret Gunning    I don't want to do anything to harm him/her, though I hope it doesn't keep coming around for his/her own sake. Spring is the time they come out of hibernation, so they're extra hungry. At any rate, I won't put my bird feeders up for the forseeable future, though I think it was the BBQ he was after. It's the first time we've seen a brown bear in these parts! The thing is, though we're in the suburbs, we're also right on the edge of a large green belt, and critters are a fact of life.

Laura Redman    thanks for following up… bears are opportunists, so when hungry, they’ll seek food wherever they can find it - which is how human conflicts can occur… so yeah, barbecues, bird feeders, baked goods near an open window, garbage or accessible pet food… they are also smart enough to remember where that meal came from so they might add that spot to their foraging route…

I have friends in central Ontario who have had black bears break into their homes or trailers or pickup trucks in order to steal a dinner or a lunch…

But thankfully those occasions are rare, and the bears are not familiar with human contact so more fearful.

It does happen more often in the spring when they’re waking up and food is more scarce. Many people in those bear populated regions put all outdoor food away from April to October.

I hope you and your bear can both stay safe and cohabitate in a non-threatening way.

Margaret Gunning   I hope so too! Thanks for your comments.

Julie Willmot    I was walking up my road with my now deceased former Newfie mix Bee when I noticed what I thought was another black pup about the same size about 50 feet ahead near the entrance to my Russell Williams shack. Then it turned its head and I got a glimpse of a little bear face and quickly turned around and went in the other direction. Luckily a car came down my access road and I asked the driver to escort me on my way home in case the mum of the baby bear was hidden in the ditch. 

I am ashamed to admit that I phoned my neighbors who have bees near me who advised that a mother with two cubs had been observed earlier that Spring on the next concession over. I have seen bear prints around my house on several occasions but smallish ones. I have a small overgrown orchard and they are probably attracted by the apples. Hope you scared that bear away. Bears can be dangerous although the number of bears killed by humans far outnumbers the number of bears who have killed and eaten humans in Canada.

Margaret Gunning    They're also attracted to rotten salmon (we have a creek about a 5-minute walk away in which the salmon spawn in the fall) and berries with pits in them. I see the results on the trail - they don't try to hide their scat, maybe marking their territory? Very messy for cyclists! And it's true, if you see a cub, be VERY careful. 

We rediscovered a "bear whistle" we had stashed away, and it did work, with a very loud, shrill, earsplitting blast. Since then we went to Canadian Tire and bought two more, boating whistles this time, but with the same effect. That bear jumped and leaped over the fence (and how do 200-pound bears jump over 8-foot-high fences like cats?) Living with the bears is quite a challenge sometimes. I still don't have my bird feeders up ,but this bear was after the barbecue.

Back Yard Bear: YIKES, he's HUGE!

 

Well, this is the comic version, but it's no joke what happened last night. I was sitting at my desk after dinner, when I heard a CRASH. Then Bill yelled up the stairs, "We have a bear." Not again! I assumed it was one of those nosy black bears that wander around in the back yard, sniffing out bird feeders or whatever they can find.

But no.

This was a BROWN bear, not like anything I have ever seen before, like a giant teddy, and it had pulled the barbecue over and was rooting around in it! Not only that, the cinder block barrier around our cedar tree had been demolished, lying in ruins.

From a bear.

This video isn't of our bear, of course, but he's pretty close to what we saw. I since found out that brown bears (a close cousin to grizzlies, which did NOT make me feel better) can reach a thousand pounds, though this one looked to be a mere three or four hundred. Black bears are common around here, but in nearly 40 years of living here, we have never seen a brown bear, in our yard or anywhere else. In fact, seeing ANY bear in the yard is rare in broad daylight, but that didn't stop him.

Fortunately, I had a bear whistle! This is something we bought years and years ago, a  nice-looking thing with a thermometer and a compass on it. Perfect for getting lost in the woods. And it is LOUD, high and shrill, and yes, it did freak him out and he bounded over the fence and took off (I am amazed at how these lumbering creatures can jump up on fences like cats, and wander along looking down into the various back yards to see what they can ravage next.)

I can't put any bird feeders up at all now, and won't for the forseeable future. We hope our barbecue (a fairly new one) isn't totally wrecked. Or will explode from a propane leak. . . 

No more excitement, Mother Nature, please! Meantime, I thought I'd have a little fun with animation and make a wacky gif of the whole thing. Our bear didn't dance, but it rummaged, pulled down feeder poles and for some reason pushed over a barrier of cinder blocks as if they were dominos.

Back Yard Bear: he's at it again. . .

BEAR ATTACK!

So I get up in the morning, look out the window, and my three 6-foot-tall bird feeder poles are GONE. They’re not there anymore! I ran outside, and all the poles (thick metal pipe) were flat on the ground. It could only be a bear flattening them down. But, there were no food trays hanging on them – they were just empty poles, but the bear managed to crush them anyway.

Then it got worse! My husband discovered the bear had broken in through the fence and ripped out some of the boards. He wasn’t too happy about that, and now has a project, once it stops raining. We have already had to rebuild our fences more than once due to nocturnal ursine raids.

Bears are more of a problem all the time in these parts, and we’re right on the edge of a large green space with a creek running through it (SALMON!). We try to live in harmony with nature, but if it isn’t bears it’s raccoons or squirrels. Coyote sightings are relatively rare, but you’re more likely to hear them getting together at night for a group howl. Added to the weird bassoon-notes of barred owls, it makes for some hair-raising night noise.

But the bears are the worst invaders, though you can’t blame them for needing to eat constantly to maintain their massive bulk. People are being told to take all their bird feeders down (and I never leave the seed trays out overnight), and even barbecues have to be put in the garage, because the smell of cold grease is attracting them and they can literally rip a barbecue apart.

Being one who likes to win an argument, even with Nature, I want to try a new kind of pole that I can actually take down at night. I think Bill wishes I would just stop spending so much time and $$ on things that always get destroyed. But I am not willing to give up yet. It’s my worst trait.

Back Yard Bear: THE REVENGE!
The bear who smashed down my 3 birdfeeder poles will have a harder time pushing this one over, I hope! I always take all the feeders inside at night, but empty poles are no challenge for a beast who can easily snap a metal pole in two.

One hair-raising back yard bear story comes to mind: we used to have windowpane-mounted feeders which were great for seeing the birds close-up. Then in the middle of the night, we heard a pound-pound-pound and a CRASH. Running downstairs, we saw a large black bear standing on its hind legs at the window, swatting at the glass. We realized it would only take one paw-swipe to break the glass, and then we’d have 200 pounds of bear wandering around in our living room.

We managed to scare it away (after several tries), but the window feeders had to be taken down permanently. I thought the poles would be bear-proof, but apparently there’s no such thing. And squirrels are already trying to scale the new one, or parachuting down from the huge cedar tree in the back yard. The birds always come back, and I love them, but I can’t even add up how much time, energy and $$ I’ve spent on equipment over the past 10 years or so. I am hoping the fact I can partially dismantle the new pole at night will make a difference. But who knows. So the saga of me versus the I-don’t-care-bear continues.

(NOTE: this is actually two Facebook posts I copied and pasted. I'm just not up to blogging  a lot lately, since I am still hacking my way through the jungle of what is so delicately called "health issues". I do wonder sometimes if I am ever going to come out of this perilous woods. I feel all right, actually almost back to normal, but still have to have tests, and more tests, and lab work, and maybe even two more specialists on the other side of the lower mainland. It SUCKS and I want it to be over!)

😳Back Yard Bear: OMG, he's HUGE!😳

We did not welcome this visitor to our back yard! Since then we've taken down all our bird feeders. From teeming with squawking birds and screeching squirrels, we now have NOTHING out there. Deadly silence. But we can't risk having bears habituated to our "feeding station". A fed bear is a dead bear, and though this guy's a nuisance, he is magnificent and we don't want anything to happen to him. We're on the very edge of a large green space with a creek running through it, and the creek is now full of spawning salmon  which will soon die and become appealingly stinky to the bears. We don't wish to provide them with suet and seeds for dessert.