As bears search for food in the recovering Jasper townsite, Parks Canada is asking residents and contractors to secure or remove all food attractants.
Several black bears have been frequenting the townsite investigating garbage, feeding on non-native trees and digging through damaged and destroyed properties.
Tara Russell, program director with Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) Northern Alberta, said managing attractants such as fruit trees and garbage was essential for reducing human-wildlife conflicts.
“As an organization, we’re quite concerned about the well-being of wildlife populations and human-bear conflict is obviously something that would concern us because it often results in the destruction of wildlife or for bears, if they become problem bears, to be relocated,” Russell said. “I know Jasper has put in a lot of effort to minimize human behaviours that cause wildlife conflict, but when you have lots of folks living in wildlife habitat, it can happen.”
Parks Canada noted it was better for bears to find natural food sources on their own, even in challenging post-fire conditions.
Bears that learn to seek human food or garbage will spend more time in areas where they are more likely to have a negative encounter with humans or ingest toxic items that make them sick.
“As residents and contractors work to clean and restore properties in the Jasper townsite, it is critical that we dispose of waste and wildlife attractants in bear-safe garbage bins, not industrial waste bins,” Parks Canada stated in a Thursday (Aug. 5) bulletin. “Never leave waste beside bear-safe garbage bins.”
For public safety, Parks Canada may have to destroy animals that learn to associate food and garbage with people.
“Managing fruit trees, food waste and other attractants is the only viable approach to keep bears out of the Jasper townsite,” Parks Canada stated. “By removing bear attractants, we are enhancing safety for residents and giving bears the best chance of survival.”
A Parks Canada representative was not available for an interview before publication.
Russell described the amount of bear attractants in post-wildfire Jasper as “extremely problematic” and noted that many wild animals, including bears, were under much more stress following the blaze.
“This incident of more bears being in the townsite, feeding on fruit trees and garbage, is just another impact of this devastating wildfire,” she said. “We’ve got so many folks that have had this devastating thing happen to their home, and given the massive clean-up effort that’s happening, just that management of waste is going to be even more important.”
Russell encouraged anyone working in the townsite to appropriately dispose of garbage.
For residential waste, if the bear-safe garbage bins are full, contact the municipality and dispose of the waste at the Jasper Transfer Station.
The industrial waste bins are for demolition materials only. They are not bear-safe and should not have food or other wildlife attractants.
Parks Canada advised the public to stay 100 metres away from bears and report sightings to Jasper dispatch at 780-852-6155.
