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Greater Sudbury receives 23% of province’s bear complaints

Humans may be more to blame for bear encounters than the bears, Beth Litchfield, Sudbury area supervisor, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, said. She was speaking to the policy committee of city council April 21.
blackbear
Kayla Belair, 18, was walking home around 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 6 when a large adult bear came out of the bush and began to charge her.

Humans may be more to blame for bear encounters than the bears, Beth Litchfield, Sudbury area supervisor, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, said.

She was speaking to the policy committee of city council April 21.

“Eighty per cent of calls we get involve the caller saying the bear is in my garbage, on my deck eating my dog’s food or taking down the bird feeder,” Litchfield said.

“All these are attractants to the bears. Garbage should be put out only the day of the pick-up, dog or cat food should never be left outside and bird feeders should be taken down by April 1, when natural food sources are available for the birds.

“Bear movements correspond with the municipal garbage cycle. We know when a certain area has a garbage pick-up day, just by the bear calls we get. Bears have a non-stop urge to find food. They have an excellent memory and when they are able to get food easily — especially human food — they will came back again and again.”

She said newcomers to a new subdivision may be surprised to find bears frequenting their neighbourhood.

“It is because the construction workers were leaving waste food out at the end of the day. That attracts the bears, who then will continue to frequent the sites when the houses are finished and the workers leave.”

Litchfield even cautioned homeowners to clean garbage containers with an odour-killing cleanser.“Bears have an amazing sense of smell. Small actions make a big difference. Even a tight fitting garbage container will discourage a bear enough so that it will leave for an easier food source.”

She also said the unique geography of the Sudbury area makes it ideal for the animals, which may explain why there seems to be a lot of bears around. She insisted the bear population in Ontario is stable and not dramatically increasing.

“The Sudbury office receives 23 per cent of the total calls from the province — over 3,000 last year,” Litchfield noted.

Bear movements correspond with the municipal garbage cycle.

Beth Litchfield,
Sudbury area supervisor, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources

That is down from numbers in past years. Last year 140 bears were trapped with many relocated. Problem bears may be dispatched. Last year 20 had to be killed, she said.

The city is actually a mecca for bears.

 “The Sudbury area, with its acidic soils, has ideal growing conditions for the bears No.1 food: blueberries,” she said.

The city is also geographically one of the largest municipalities in Canada, with a diverse topography and large areas that remain rural and remote.

“There are many rocky outcrops that are ideal for bear dens, and, being a transition zone between the Great Lakes Forest and the Boreal Forest regions, means there are many mast-bearing trees, such as oaks, that with their crops of acorns, are a main food supply in the fall.”

The extensive regreening efforts over past decades also mean there are forested corridors throughout the city that allow the bears to travel in and out of the city without being seen.

“Bears live here,” she said.

She showed a slide of a bear swimming in Ramsey Lake, then coming to shore by a lakeside residence. The bear then swam across the lake to the other side in a matter of minutes.

City councillors still grumbled that there seemed to be more bears than in the past.

“When I grew up there were no bag limits on garbage and people used to do a lot of cooking outside in their backyards in ethnic neighbourhoods,” Ward 1 Coun. Joe Cimino said. “Yet bears did not seem to be present. We need a study to find out if there really is an increase in bear calls from say the 1970s to now.”

Ward 2 Coun. Jacques Barbeau said there are more bears around now.

“We never used to see bears 10 years ago. We have an overpopulation of bears today.” 

Litchfield said people can call the provincial bear reporting line at 1-866-514-2327.

“There is a live body there to answer queries. In case of emergency to life and property call 9-1-1. We had a call from a person with a bear coming in the rear of the house. That is the time to call 9-1-1.”

For general information on bear issues, phone the MNR’s Sudbury district office at 564-7823 and ask for the bear technician.


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