By Kate Trotter
The Tri-City News
Jun 14 2006 Coquitlam councillors aim to curb area bears’ deadly temptations at the curb
Bears are evolving faster than bylaws.

On the same day Coquitlam council took the first of many steps to clamp down on a chronic problem of bad garbage management that is a danger to bears, a bear was spotted trying out a new food source by trying to break into cars on Coast Meridian Road in Port Coquitlam.
 

“There were two attempted break-ins Monday,” said Drake Stephens, Bear Aware co-ordinator in Coquitlam. “If you’re in bear territory, do not leave food in the car.”
 

In one case, a bear peeled back the door of a pick-up truck’s canopy; in another, a car was scratched and dented as a bear – probably the same one – tried to get at a bagel in the trunk.
 

“They live by their noses and they live for food,” Stephens said.
 

In Whistler, he said, bears have been known to open car doors and have learned to twist knobs to open house doors.
 

At Monday night’s committee of the whole meeting in Coquitlam, councillors agreed to change the solid waste bylaw and levy fines against people who leave food exposed and tempt bears. (Council must still vote on it at a council meeting.)
 

The proposed changes include:
 

• requiring that fruit be removed from trees and bushes as soon as it is ripe;
 

• ensuring outdoor freezers, fridges and grease containers are inaccessible to wildlife;
 

• ensuring garbage containers are wildlife-resistant or stored in a wildlife-resistant enclosure in areas where authorities deem there is a problem;
 

• forbidding people to put garbage on the street for collection until 5 a.m. on garbage day.
 

The final requirement was the most contentious, with several councillors concerned that people who work between midnight and 9 a.m. will have no opportunity to put out their trash.
 

“We don’t consider these things,” said Coun. Lou Sekora. “We don’t consider that we’re hammering people who work shifts.”
 

He also said he is concerned the fine for the first offence was raised from the $200 staff recommended to $500 by a vote of council.
 

Coun. Doug Macdonell said when he was an RCMP officer, he had to shoot a couple of food-habituated bears. “I didn’t like it, and neither did the people in the neighbourhood.
 

“I don’t think we can ease into it,” he said. “We have to take a stand. In this society, people have to learn to take responsibility.”
 

Stephens said bears are not a problem in the entire city. Burquitlam, for example, had a visit from a bear that wandered in from Burnaby Mountain for a two-day visit. While densely developed areas like North Road aren’t likely to attract bears, he pointed out that until recently, Mundy Park did not have bears.
 

ktrotter@tricitynews.com
http://web.bcnewsgroup.com/portals-code/list.cgi?cat=23&paper=74&id=668709