Some local black bears aren’t hibernating this winter.
This week the North Shore Black Bear Society received a report of an orphaned bear cub rummaging through an unsecured food scraps bin in the Canyon Heights area, prompting an unusual winter reminder to local residents.
“We’re wanting people to know that there are some bears around -– there’s possibly others in other parts of the North Shore,” said Christine Miller, a coordinator with black bear society.
Miller urged residents to be careful about potential bear attractants – like garbage cans, bird feeders and green bins – even though it’s still early February.
“There are bears out looking for food, bears that didn’t hibernate for the whole season,” she said.
In the neighbourhood where the young bear was recently spotted, Miller also urged cautious driving, especially at night.
Miller said it is somewhat unusual to have non-hibernating bears roaming around this time of the year.
“Sometimes we’ve had bears that hibernate for shorter periods of time. We don’t know if this bear hibernated at all. We don’t know what happened to its mother, if it is a cub, and it should still be with its mother.”
Miller is hopeful the bear will find its way back into the wilderness. “It’s very close to forested areas” where the bear can go “if it’s given a chance.”
Miller noted there were an unprecedented number of orphaned cubs on the North Shore this season with six taken to Critter Care Wildlife Society in Langley.
Critter Care rehabilitates injured and orphaned animals and releases them into the wild but is currently at maximum capacity for cubs and looking to enlarge its existing enclosure to create more space, said Miller.
“They definitely cannot take any more.”
Conservation officer Sgt. Todd Hunter has also received recent reports of bear sightings and said it’s something his office is monitoring.
Hunter said it’s not all that unusual to have bear sightings at this time of the year, especially if the weather warms up and there’s a food source available. “When the weather pattern does change bears may come out of torpor (brief hibernation) — especially younger bears have been known to come in and out,” he said. “They’re not as used to the long periods of torpor like the adult bears who are more seasoned.
“Sometimes bears will look for food, then go back into torpor if the weather changes.”
