A bear raids some garbage cans in this photo shared by the Prince Albert National Park.

By Susan McNeil

Be bear-y safe

Food supply is the main reason Sask. residents are seeing more bears

Jul 4, 2024 | 4:00 PM

Black bear populations are stable and have not changed much, said a Saskatchewan bear biologist, but they have a slight shortage of food in some areas and that’s why people are seeing more of them in human habitats.

Matthew Tokaruk, who works for the Ministry of the Environment, said that it is more likely that bears are not finding much food in the wild and some private property is more inviting than others.

“Bear populations are slow to change, and whether you’re seeing bears or not, isn’t really a good indication of the bear population. It’s often more indication of what foods are available at that time,” he said.

This year, a cool and rainy June means that berry crops like saskatoons are a bit behind schedule compared to when they would normally be ripe.

“We’ve had kind of an interesting June this year where it was quite cool and rainy for a lot of us anyway in the province, and that seems to affect the natural food availability in some cases and caused some bears to be moving around looking for food and getting into trouble,” said Tokaruk.

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Bad human habits like leaving out pet food, not cleaning barbecues, having bird feeders out and putting meat in a compost heap are bound to attract bear attention.

In southern Saskatchewan a slightly higher than normal bear population has led the province to issue extra bear hunting tags for the fourth year running.

Normally, the number of bears does not fluctuate much as the sows are between 4.5 and 5.5 years old before they reproduce.

Tokaruk said that black bears can be found in any part of Saskatchewan that has a good habitat for them.

It is often the bears that have just left their moms and are on their own for the first time that cause problems as they don’t know how to act around humans yet.

Along with not enticing bears to your property with food, he pointed out some ways to deal with in person encounters in the wild.

In the event people stumble across a bear, the first thing to do is raise your arms over your head, talk a little and back away, giving the animal a wide detour.

If a safe place like a vehicle or inside of a cabin is available, it’s good to use it. What is bad is climbing a tree, as black bears are great climbers.

The vast majority of encounters will end there, but on the off chance they don’t and the bear continues to approach, people can use bear spray when the animal is several feet away.

“It’s a very useful tool – if you need it, do use it, spraying more at the feet than the face and make sure the bear is close enough. That’s effective. If it’s still 30 yards away, that won’t work. It has to be quite close,” he explained.

Extremely rarely, bears will still be aggressive and if they make contact, Tokaruk said the best thing to do is fight back.

Anyone that has an encounter with a bear should be reported to the provincial tip line at 1-800-567-4224 or email center.inquiry@gov.sk.ca.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com