"The report also urges the gradual introduction of bear-resistant receptacles in public spaces, including parks and bus stops."
This is the thing that I have noticed around PG - we have some bear-resistant bins around town, but far too many of those old, open top bins. I feel the city should be leading by example, rather than "do as I say, not as I do" when it comes to improving bear and resident safety through attractant management.
It's also kind of ridiculous (IMHO) that it is 2024 and PG is finally looking into becoming a Bear Smart community. As it is, there are only 12 in the province and I believe all of them are Kamloops and southwards. Kamloops became a Bear Smart community in 2009, as the very first one in the province. I guess the time lag reflects the northern culture of being behind the times? I might be a bit unfair in my criticism but boy, it makes me angry as a rural resident that we cannot get this one thing right.
I’m not a PG resident but often visit family there, and yeah, PG needs to do something. When we were there over the summer, literally every day we’d hear bear bangers going off, bears climbing fruit trees, bears eating out of garbage bins. There were no kids out as everyone was scared of bear run-ins. Reducing the food/attractants seems to be an obvious, and easy, step. Yeah, it’s a big city with a lot of forest integration, bears are going to be there, but we don’t have to make it worse (mostly for the bears who usually end up dead) by having easy food sources everywhere.
"The report also urges the gradual introduction of bear-resistant receptacles in public spaces, including parks and bus stops."
This is the thing that I have noticed around PG - we have some bear-resistant bins around town, but far too many of those old, open top bins. I feel the city should be leading by example, rather than "do as I say, not as I do" when it comes to improving bear and resident safety through attractant management.
It's also kind of ridiculous (IMHO) that it is 2024 and PG is finally looking into becoming a Bear Smart community. As it is, there are only 12 in the province and I believe all of them are Kamloops and southwards. Kamloops became a Bear Smart community in 2009, as the very first one in the province. I guess the time lag reflects the northern culture of being behind the times? I might be a bit unfair in my criticism but boy, it makes me angry as a rural resident that we cannot get this one thing right.
I’m not a PG resident but often visit family there, and yeah, PG needs to do something. When we were there over the summer, literally every day we’d hear bear bangers going off, bears climbing fruit trees, bears eating out of garbage bins. There were no kids out as everyone was scared of bear run-ins. Reducing the food/attractants seems to be an obvious, and easy, step. Yeah, it’s a big city with a lot of forest integration, bears are going to be there, but we don’t have to make it worse (mostly for the bears who usually end up dead) by having easy food sources everywhere.