Neighbears

(like neighbours, but with bears, right?)

Through a friend of a friend, I had heard about a family of bears living near a property, using the backyard as a thoroughfare for their daily commute from one section of forest to another. After some phonecalls, and the hasty retrieval of a camera-trap from another location, the scene was set, and the results were just as planned, mostly.

The set up

The family of black bears, a mama bear with her yearlings, were living in an area of forest out east of Maple Rigde, BC. This area of forest was scattered with both private land, as well as crown land, and cross-sectioned with roads. However, the word was that the bears would follow the same route each day, emerging from the forest into the backyard of my new friends, and crossing their lawn to duck across to the next section of forest. Trees with claw marks, well worn trails, and even a paw-print in the mud indicated the best place to set up the camera. For most camera-trapping, the general rule is to then leave the camera alone, so as not to mark the area with your presence in order to photograph the desired species without disturbing them, however bears, particularly young bears, are inquisitive creatures. Naturally, a week later when I returned to check the trap, sure enough, everything had been knocked over and chewed on.

the sting

Opening the trap housing, the first thing to look at is A; is the camera on? And B; what is the “shots remaining” count? After waiting a week, knowing that the bears were said to walk the trail every day, returning to find everything knocked over was counter-intuitively a relief, a sign that at least animals has been through! A; the camera was still on, awesome. B; the “shots remaining” was eight. Eight out of eleven hundred for that SD card, and another eleven hundred for the second. Not waiting, I set to scrolling through the weeks captures on the back of the camera. Rain, rain, rain, rain, and more rain. It would appear that I had set the sensitivity on the PIR sensor a little too high. Increasing numbers of rain shots, and decreasing morale were showing as I continued to scroll, until staring me back was the curious face of a large female black bear. Then another, and another, and then one with little bear faces looking in from behind! The rest of the weeks photos were a mix of rain, bears, a coyote, and a bobcat. Needless to say, SD cards were swapped, the trap was reset, and the weekly checkups in this fashion continued for another four weeks.

Why it matters

Wildlife living in close proximity to people is the same as people living in close proximity to wildlife. Both parties are present and have made their lives there. It is how we manage our impacts that determines if each particular case is healthy and safe for both people and wildlife. A raccoon in the garbage is an issue just as much as bears in the garbage is, however the consequences are vastly different. While working on this project, I had the pleasure of getting to know the lovely couple who’s property I was photographing on. They maintain a tidy garden, keep their garbage secured, and are generally “bear aware”. This responsibility keeps the both the bears, as well as themselves, out of harms way. Not habituating the bears to a human presence, not providing a food source, and respecting the natural boundaries, that the bears are only using the property as a thoroughfare, and ensuring that this continues to be the case.

After a month of cameratrapping, one week went by where only the mother bear came through a handful of times, along with a possible other bear, followed by a week or two with no bears, after which I pulled the traps to continue with other projects, leaving the question for both myself and the landowners: where had the bears gone? A few months later, I received word that mama bear had been spotted with a brand new set of cubs! And the sub-adults were making their own way in the world, though still close to home.