There is much talk about what to do with bears. There was a story on the news recently about a little boy who found a bear in his back yard, told his mom and she phoned the animal authorities. They came along and took it away. They both wanted to know what had happened to the bear so the next day his mom phoned to find out what had happened and it had been shot. This happens a lot. The boy has now formed a children's 'Save the Bears' organisation and it has attracted many youngsters already.
If bear cubs are found without their mother they are shot as they cannot survive on their own under 3 years of age. Mother bears are fierce when guarding their young, understandable. We were warned very early on, that if we were in wild country (and you don't have to be far away to be in wild country) and we saw some cubs playing, on no account should we go closer to get a better look as mommy bear wouldn't be far away and you better be able to run if she finds you.... In fact that is the advice given to people - if you are going out hiking, take a friend who cannot run as fast as you and then the bear will get them first..... ;-)
On a serious note, it is a big problem. Bears can kill you very easily, there are also wild cougars around here with wild stories to go with them - on Vancouver Island one man ran under a rock to shelter from the rain and it just so happened that a cougar had had the same idea, he was nearly killed. It is explained by the fact that the cougar was trapped and just needed to get away - it was defending itself and it's territory.
Well, we all know how animals act in these situations, and that is why, in general, you don't want a community of people to be near them really. So, what do you do? Shoot all the animals? There would be an outcry, and is it right to do that when it is their land we are encroaching on? If Vancouver continues to develop in the way it is there will be more and more stories like the above, and more and more pressure on the animal rights activists to make way for the people.
Vancouver has a shortage of skilled trades people at the moment - there is so much construction work going on, one man said to me the other day -'what are they suggesting, that we train the bears to be plumbers? Or do we just bring more trained people here?'
There are progressive bear re-habilitation programmes happening, but not many and not with any conviction really, there doesn't seem to be vast support from the Govt. for such things - they provide the means to shoot them. One vet realised he could save a couple of bears by moving them to the top of Grouse Mountain, letting them live in an enclosed space, and let them become a tourist attraction - Grinder and Cooler have become a must for our visitors to see, they are spectacular and to see them playing together in the pond and trees is just magical.
But how long can Vancouver hold this kind of thing dear to it's heart, yet still accommodate the ever increasing influx of people?