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VICTORIA – Preventing bears from getting into harm’s way is the objective of $450,000 in funding from the B.C. government, just in time for the bruins’ spring emergence from their dens.
The B.C. Conservation Foundation (BCCF) will use a $250,000 grant to sign up more municipal partners for the provincial Bear Aware education program, and the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation (HCTF) will receive a grant of $200,000 for communities to pursue Bear Smart activities, Environment Minister Barry Penner announced today.
“Each year, approximately 700 bears have to be destroyed in B.C. because they pose a danger to the public while doing what comes naturally – looking for food,” said Penner. “What is unnatural about the situation is that too many people are carelessly leaving food and garbage around for bears to sniff out, causing bears to be in places where they shouldn’t be. Sadly, a fed bear often becomes a dead bear. The Bear Smart program helps prevent many bear deaths.”
Bear conflicts are a high priority under the Provincial Wildlife-Human Conflicts Prevention Strategy due to the relatively high incidence of conflict and the potential risk to public safety.
“There’s no need for communities to reinvent the wheel when it comes to reducing bear-human conflict in their communities,” said BCCF executive director Deborah Gibson. “The Bear Smart Program has a proven track record of helping communities deal with their bears. In most cases, it’s a matter of making people more aware of practical ways to keep bears away from areas that humans inhabit.”
The Bear Smart program encourages innovation and co-operation in bear-human conflict reduction, including the development of hazard assessments, management plans, education, bear-proof waste management and bylaws. The HCTF Bear Smart Fund supports proposals that seek to undertake these initiatives.
Bear Aware is the education component of Bear Smart and is administered by the BCCF. The Bear Aware program provides a consistent educational package to those communities that wish to pursue Bear Smart status.
Cost savings for government and communities by reducing bear-human conflicts will be substantial in the long term. The Conservation Officer Service spends approximately $1 million each year responding to bear complaints. Funding through the Bear Aware program is used to leverage matching funds from communities to ensure they have a vested interest in dealing with the problem.
From 2000 to today, the B.C. government has invested approximately $2 million in the Bear Aware program to support education and a further $635,000 in Bear Smart funding to support other bear conflict reduction activities. It is hoped that communities will also undertake their own fundraising efforts to ensure the program becomes self-supporting in the future. To date, more than 30 B.C. communities are delivering Bear Aware education programs and pursuing Bear Smart status.
To learn more about the B.C.
community Bear Smart program, check online at http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wld/bearsmart/bearsmintro.html.
To find out more about the prevention of bear-human conflicts, check the web at
http://wlapwww.gov.bc.ca/wld/documents/bearsmart/10_THINGS_BEARS.pdf.
The Conservation Officer Service encourages the public to Report All Poachers and Polluters (RAPP) by calling the 24-hour hotline toll free at 1-877-952-7277 (RAPP), #7277 on the TELUS Mobility Network or by visiting the RAPP website at www.rapp.bc.ca.
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Media Relations Ministry of Environment 250 953-4577 |
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