Bear essentials discussed
Passing the lesson — Rachael Roussin of Rossland Bear Aware gave a bear education presentation to the Rossland Girl Guides at the MacLean Elementary school.
Email
Print
Letter to Editor
Share
Updated: October 06, 2009 4:12 PM
Rossland Bear Aware was at the Rossland Secondary School on Oct. 1 teaching bear smarts, safety and information on the wild animals that lurk around town in higher numbers in the fall and spring.
The Rossland Girl Guides were getting berry smart with the pawsitive aspects of bear safety during their presentation.
“It’s important that everyone in town knows how to be safe in bear country. There are many misconceptions on bears that can endanger people and the animals,” said Rachael Roussin with Rossland Bear Aware.
“Every fall and spring, we need friendly reminders because we all live in bear country here in Rossland.”
Roussin’s presentation included basic bear knowledge, how to identify different bears and what to do if a run-in with one does occur.
Rossland is a bear corridor with many black bears seen regularly when they come into town looking for food.
Birdfeeders, garbage, poorly attended composts and fruit all attract bears and with the obvious danger to humans, if bears become habituated around humans and our food, conservation officers are sometimes forced to kill the bears for our safety.
“People think fruit is OK for bears so they should be able to come into town and eat when they want, but then they don’t leave and problems can happen,” said Roussin.
“Household garbage is the number one killer of bears.”
Many of the Rossland Girl Guides are no strangers to bear awareness with 12 of the guides recently harvesting 70 lb. of unused apples for a fundraiser making around 360 apple muffins, ‘a lot’ of apple sauce and doing their part to help keep bears out the area.
Learning about bear safety is important for everyone especially young kids said Girl Guide leader Denise Currie.
“It’s important to be safe and keep the bears safe,” she said.
“We live directly in bear country and the more you know the better.”
The Rossland Bear Aware aims to reduce incidents of bear-human conflicts through education innovation and co-operation.
In co-operation with the B.C. Conservation Foundation, Roussin teaches awareness in schools, camps, girl guides, scouts, library reading and anywhere education is needed.
v2
