CASTLEGAR NEWS Thursday, September 17, 2015
Breaking news at castlegarnews.com
Vol.12 • Issue 38
Stacey Miller 304-8327
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Rauni Naud
Advisor, Member of the Million Dollar Round Table Mutual funds offered by Sun Life Financial Investment Services (Canada) Inc.
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Rebels take home win
Sculpturewalk call for artists
Wooden bat tournament
See page 14
See page 3
See page 22
Bears invade Castlegar
Should be quite a show!
BETSY KLINE Castlegar News
Jo-Ann Bursey Mountainview Realty Ltd.
250.304.8681 jo-ann@century21castlegar.com
Nancy Trotman Mortgage Broker
250-365-9513 888-998-9513
Carmen Harris
Your HometownRealtor www.carmenharris.ca www.carmenharris.ca
The Pass Creek Fall Fair is celebrating its twentieth anniversary and it is adding Global FMX performances to this year’s attractions. www.globalfmx.com is an extreme freestyle motorcross show Please come out and help celebrate this incredible old fashion fall fair on Sept. 26 and 27.
An ever increasing influx of bears over the past few weeks is becoming quite the problem for residents, conservation officers and bears alike. WildSafeBC community coordinator for Castlegar Jenny Wallace stated, “The bear situation is Castlegar right now is crazy. It is very different from the last two seasons.” She blames the increase on the hot dry summer and the failed huckleberry crop. “The root cause of most human wildlife conflict is food,” continued Wallace. “Food conditioned bears are potentially very dangerous bears.” The improper storage and management of attractants like garbage, fruit trees, compost and recycling lies at the heart of the problem. Many of the current conflicts involve unpicked ripe fruit. With as much education efforts as have been done by WildSafeBC (formerly Bear Aware) and the City of Castlegar, it is hard to believe that there is still a large problem with residents putting their garbage out the night before their scheduled pick up. Some residents have been keeping their garbage in, but putting their recycling out early,
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which is still an attractant because of the smell, even though it does not end up as a reward for the bear. At their last meeting, city council discussed instructing staff to be more aggressive in ticketing the bylaw breaking action in order ensure residents are limiting the attractants. Unfortunately, there is no local source for bear resistant garbage containers. However, Home Hardware will order in Ty-Dee bins for residents interested in a bear proof garbage storage locker. Another option comes from Rollins Machinery in Langley, they offer a 32 gallon bear resistant cart for $175 plus tax and delivery or a 64 gallon version for $195 you can see these containers at www. bearproofcontainers.com. Conservation officer Tobe Sprado reports that his office has received about 100 bear complaints, with most of those occurring in the last few weeks. This has resulted in the necessity of putting down seven bears. “That is one of the most distasteful parts of our job, having to put down wildlife,” said Sprado. Conservation officers take careful consideration before making the decision to put down a bear. Sprado said, “We are extremely cautious.”
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