Bears? An electrifying solution
By Nelson Daily Editor
It is beginning to feel like fall and plums, apples, pears and other fruit are the bounty of the season.
But fall is also the season when we often see bears in town taking advantage of all the fruit that we make available.
One solution is electric fencing. Bear Aware will be hosting a free electric fencing workshop on Thursday, Sept. 8 to teach people how to use electric fencing to protect fruit trees and chickens.
Fruit is a high quality food that allows bears to put on fat quickly in preparation for hibernation.
Huckleberries, other native fruits and food in higher elevations can supply bears with most of their nutritional needs.
But if huckleberries, in particular are in short supply, bears that would normally feed in the higher elevations come to our communities looking for food – and they find fruit, garbage, chickens and other attractants.
Because domestic fruit trees grow near our homes, bears feeding on the fruit beneath or on these trees may learn to forage for other food near our homes. Bears can also be quite destructive to chickens.
It is often the chicken feed that attracts the bears initially, but they readily learn to catch and eat the chickens once they find the food in the coop. Most coops cannot withstand the efforts of a determined bear.
Solutions? Pick your fruit as it ripens; clean up windfall fruit as it falls; share fruit and picking duties with neighbours; keep chicken feed cleaned up and keep chickens in at night – and consider using electric fencing to protect trees, orchards and chicken coops.
The free electric fencing workshop, (sponsored by the RDCK and CBT) will be held up Sproule Creek (Taghum) on Thursday, Sept. 8 at 10 a.m.
For further information, contact the Bear Aware Community Coordinator at nelsonrdck@bearaware.bc.ca.
- Learn how to live in bear country – find out about more solutions at www.bearaware.bc.ca.
- Please contact the Conservation Officer Service at the RAPP line (1-877-952-7277) with any bear sightings, property or safety concerns.
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