A Squamish, B.C., homeowner is using a motion-activated Halloween decoration to scare bears away from his garbage bins.
Stephen Fryer has been dealing with bears constantly in the Brackendale neighbourhood, about 50 kilometres north of Vancouver.
“They’re around us every single day,” Fryer said.
Officials say animals are looking for food at lower elevations, after drought and wildfires at higher elevations have reduced their food sources. Fryer is one homeowner who is trying a creative way to keep the bears out of his garbage.
He stores his bins outside, as he does not have a garage, and the bears often tip the bins to get inside.
“The garbage, the handles have been like chewed off — not ripped off, chewed off, because they’re trying to get into it,” Fryer said.
Fryer decided to reinforce the bins to the side of his house with a bolt and strap — but that didn’t work either.
“One of them finally figured out how to rip it out of the wall and pulled the … I-hook out of the wall and off the strap,” Fryer said.
His wife had asked for the Halloween decorations to be set up in September, and that’s when Fryer got an idea to put a motion-activated zombie on top of the garbage bins.
“It absolutely scared the bear to the point where it it peed itself,” Fryer said.
Squamish man uses Halloween decorations to keep bears out of garbage
Surveillance video shows a burly black bear sniffing the bins. Moments later, the zombie lets out a scream and pops up.
“Another one came by, and it went off,” Fryer said.
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Since the zombie was installed, the bears have been deterred.
“As funny as that is, it’s totally worked,” Fryer said.
In Squamish, 90 tickets have been issued in connection with the wildlife attractant bylaw, which includes leaving garbage out and not picking up fruit from fallen trees.
“The number of complaints we’re getting is pretty high each day,” said Sgt. Chris Doyle with the BCCOS’s Sea-to-Sky zone.
The BCCOS said more bears are being seen at lower elevations.
“There’s a lot less berries at higher elevations than there should be for a normal year, and that’s likely driving a lot of the conflict,” Doyle said.
Between January and July this year, conservation officers have responded to 13,672 calls regarding black bears in B.C.
At least 33 black bears have been killed in the first seven months of the year. September is often the deadliest month, with nine being killed last year.
A bear wandered into a Squamish grocery store on Sept. 17 around 3 p.m. PT through automatic sliding doors.
Video captured the bear walking near the produce section of the store, and shortly after, it left through the sliding doors.
The B.C. Conservation Officer Service (BCCOS) said the bear also entered another business in the downtown area.
When officers arrived, the bear was outside the store. Officers tranquillized the bear and killed it.
In a statement, the service said the bear was killed “due to public safety concerns”.
A similar incident occurred in Hope recently when a black bear and its cub entered a pharmacy on Sept. 20 through automatic sliding doors.
BCCOS confirmed the mother bear was killed and the cub was released into a wilderness area.
“Bears that pose a serious threat to public safety, such as those that display a minimal fear of people or are conditioned to non-natural food sources, are not candidates for relocation or rehabilitation, as the risk is simply far too great,” said the service.
Advocates argue that more can be done to prevent bears from being killed.
Holly Reisner with North Shore Black Bear Society said there has been an increased level of bear activity in B.C.
“These automated doors are just allowing bears to enter,” Reisner said. “The bears are very attracted by any type of odour.”
She’s encouraging businesses to consider replacing the doors so bears cannot enter.
Lesley Fox, executive director of The Fur-Bearers, said a bear walking through a doorway should not be a death sentence.
“The question should be what the bear actually did, whether they posed a genuine threat, and whether reasonable non-lethal options were available,” Fox said.
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She suggests better security features be installed.
“These are preventable problems,” Fox said.
