The Editor,

My friend who lives on Hamilton Street in Port Coquitlam has regaled us for the last few years with stories about Big Bad Bob, the Big Black Bear. This fat, healthy bear hangs out around the walking trail by DeBoville Slough and eats garbage — lots of it.

We have a bear problem. Everyone knows this. It is in the papers and on the news weekly: This bear got shot, that bear got trapped, this bear is a nuisance.

Various agencies advise us constantly on how to deal with bears: Pick up your fruit, clean out your bird feeders, do not leave out your garbage.

So at nine o’clock last night, I drove out to my friend’s house, turned onto her street and, to my surprise, saw that the majority of houses on the street had put out their garbage cans to sit out for at least the next 12 hours, awaiting the garbage man.

Well, along comes Big Bad Bob and it’s the same old story: bad bear!

In what is a weekly occurrence, Bob had his feast and the neighbours have to then pick up the remnants of their garbage, thereby negating any time saved by putting it out the night before.

I can’t think of many more ways to get through to people like this. Bob’s days are numbered. He has no fear and since he is averaging three cans per block, the majority of his diet is garbage.

Perhaps PoCo does need a garbage bylaw like Port Moody’s, fining people who leave their garbage out. A hit in the wallet may succeed where common sense fails.

J. Daniels, Agassiz

EDUCATION IS SOLUTION

The Editor,

Drastic measures have had to be taken in this community against bears.

Bears are increasingly being drawn into urban areas because of the amount of food readily available to them in garbage, fruit, bird feeders, etc. Like most wild creatures, they will go wherever food is most abundant and easily available.

Biologically, this makes sense as the animals have to expend less energy for greater gains, especially at this time of year, prior to hibernation. Bears usually travel over large areas searching for food and are usually quite solitary in nature.

People standing to watch the animals are not seen as a threat — human scent is all over the food, after all. We live in areas rich in native wildlife and especially in such areas, people must change their behaviour, something many are reluctant to do.

Certainly aggressive animals must be removed but these are usually a very small percentage of a particular species. In two recent cases of bear attacks, the animals were old, injured and in poor condition.

We need to remember that we share habitat with wild creatures, both predators and prey species. It is important that a distance is maintained to avoid or minimize conflicts.

Education is always the most effective long-term solution to any problem, and bear awareness has worked well in a number of other urban areas. School children, city workers, police, politicians as well as the general public need clear and consistent guidelines for what to do and when. Proliferation of garbage left out overnight is causing the need for an emergency response.

Please let us have something in place before next year.

Elizabeth Thunstrom, Coquitlam