ILLUMINATING CALLING THE EVENT BIG SHOW
FRHP NOMINATED
Annual event Sept. 14
Park a Great Place
PAGE 12
Hafeli announces races
PAGE 5
PAGE 10
2012
CCNA
85¢+ GST
Thursday, September 5, 2013
SERVING MISSION SINCE 1908
Garbage link to escalating bear calls Conservation officer expects reports of bruins to surpass last year
Alina Konevski MISSION RECORD
Bear sightings are up this year in Mission as more people are moving into homes on the edge of the wilderness. The Ministry of Environment has already received 503 calls reporting bears in Mission this year, one of the highest volumes in the Lower Mainland. Conserva-
tion officer Don Stahl expects the district to surpass last year’s total of 539. By far the biggest single attractant in Mission is residential garbage, accounting for about a quarter of all bear calls in the district. “That seems to be the biggest attractant in Mission. People putting out the garbage the
night before. Also people leaving the garbage cans outside. Even empty containers left outside can attract bears,” said Stahl. Another quarter of calls relate to bears heading for bird feeders, fruit trees, or other attractants. And the rest of the calls relate to simple sightings, such as a bear crossing a road or
a ravine. Encounters between humans and bears are much more common in Mission than in municipalities south of the Fraser River because homes run up against traditional bear habitats. “All the communities on the north side of the Fraser… They all border the mountains. Behind those communities,
you’ve got hundreds and hundreds of mountains and wilderness. You’ve got bears everywhere,” said Stahl. Sightings should start to decrease now heading into the autumn months, with the highest volume of calls coming in May and June. It’s hard to pin down why this year in particular has seen a rise in
calls, but Stahl thinks it might be because of the summer’s good berry crops, the decline in people hunting bears, and more people preferring houses surrounded by woods. Most sightings are in residential areas and downtown Mission, rather than farmland. “The reason they’re ending up right in the
residential area is because of the creeks coming up on both sides of the Fraser, and on both sides it’s usually a wooded area. Those creeks are natural wildlife highways. Bears go up and down those ravines,” said Stahl. There was only one instance of an aggressive bear out of the hundreds of local sightings.
Faber fundraiser
Mission’s Faber Drive played a charity concert Friday night to raise funds to build an orphanage in Thailand. Band members Dave Faber, Jordan Pritchett, Krikit, and Seamus O’Neill played for a crowd of about 200 at Ricarda Faber’s(Dave’s wife) parents home. The event, planned and organized by Ricarda also featured performances by Dave and Ricarda’s talented daughters and son Isaiah. BOB FRIESEN PHOTO
MICHELIN DEFENDER Safer Longer
33245 GLASGOW AVENUE, MISSION (Located next to commuter rail)
604.826.9119 We’ve Built our Reputation on 40 Years of Quality Service.
www.symons-exceltire.com
SAFER
FUEL ECONOMY
LONGER
The all-new MICHELIN® Defender™ tire: 145,000 km of confident driving.
The all-new MICHELIN® Defender™ tire stops up to 9 meters shorter that the leading competitor. The all-new MICHELIN® Defender™ tire lasts up to 33,000 kilometers longer than a leading competitor.
Save up to $336 worth of fuel at $1.25 per litre.
•TIRES •SHOCKS •BRAKES •TUNE-UPS •ALIGNMENTS •CUSTOM EXHAUST •AIRCARE