First Birds, Now Bears

Lately there has been a lot of discussion regarding how to best deal with animals encroaching on human territory. In July, Edmonton Journal writer Cigdem Iltan wrote an article on a hired gun in St. Albert whose target was not humans but, in fact, magpies. The response to the article was overwhelming. Some residents applauded the city for getting rid of the annoying birds who serve no real purpose in life. Other people felt that the culling of magpies was not only unnecessary but cruel. I felt divided on the issue; after all, the birds might be annoying but were they dangerous?

Now wildlife officials have killed 12 bears at a northern Alberta landfill. Some Conklin residents were apparently feeding the bears. Bears, once feed by humans, become used to it, and like all hungry animals, want the free meal service to continue. These bears were apparently no longer afraid of humans and posed a threat to the small community. The 12 bears that were killed didn’t flee but actually kept eating even as their dining companions were shot and killed.

Since the bear cull, there has been considerable aftermath. And if you thought people were pissed off about the magpies of St. Albert, you should see how they are about the bears of Conklin. So far, the majority of people responding to the Journal’s initial article on the bear culling were disgusted at what transpired at the Conklin landfill. Many people question why the bears were shot and killed instead of relocated to another area. The problem is once bears become accustomed to being feed, their location ceases to matter. They will seek out food anywhere they can get it. Bears are not like our forgetful friends, the elephants; bears have memories and will not forget that where there are humans, there is food to be found. Bears that are used to being fed will associate humans with meal time. Do you really want to be the poor, unfortunate soul who goes for a walk by the town landfill, only to become the equivalent of a cartoon ham in a bear’s eye?

Yes, the bears needed to be shot. It was too late for them to change their ways and they posed a serious threat to the residents of Conklin. But it wasn’t the bears’ fault. The residents of Conklin, wildlife officials and the Alberta government should have taken steps to prevent this avoidable massacre. The dump should have been fenced long before the bears ever stepped foot on it. Currently, landfills are not required by law to be fenced. The Alberta government needs to introduce legislation that would require all landfills to be fenced. Yes, bears might eventually tear down the fence but a fence would make access to the dump more difficult and therefore, less desirable to the bears. People must learn that it is never okay to feed a bear. Not only does it teach the bears to associate humans with food, making it more likely that bears will seek out humans; it also makes bears less fearful of human contact and more likely to roam around populated areas. Alberta schools should teach students the proper way to deal with bears and what to do if one encounters a bear face-to-face. I would have no idea what to do if I saw a bear up-close. Luckily, I hate camping and have never been to Conklin, so my experience with bears is limited to the Bernstein variety found in children’s books.

The public needs to stop focusing on the death of the 12 bears and instead start demanding that steps are taken to ensure that a major bear cull never has to happen again. Alberta’s black bear population still stands strong at 40,000. We can protect those bears by not allowing them to become habituated. First of all: people, stop feeding the damn bears. They are not goats at a petting zoo and they are not starving. Next, ensure that you know what to do in case of a bear encounter, so that wildlife officials don’t have to shoot a bear to stop it while it is the middle of eating you. Third step: write your local and provincial governments asking for any landfills in your area to be fenced. The Conklin bears didn’t deserve to die but had to be killed to protect the residents of Conklin. Steps must be taken to avoid a reoccurrence of this sad waste in the future.