Danny B

If you saw a bear foot in the woods it would give you paws for concern.

BristolUK

Like wearing your very own dinner bell?

"come and get it!"

Stinkypup

In answer to the OP- yes, we have a good number of black bears, as others have said, treat them with respect, give them room and just admire the beautiful creatures from afar.

I have bear spray but have never carried it locally, make a lot of noise if in isolated parts of say Kalamalka park if hiking. ( take a couple of chattering Canadian women on your hike, they are normally loud enough to scare the bears off within a 10 mile radius). Cycling, you will be fine- you see more rattlesnakes than bears, try not to run them over, they are rightfully, a protected species.

The bald eagles may be more interested in the cats though, we have loads. We knew that we were pretty safe with Stinky as he lay on the deck looking like a bloody great dormant sheep- I mean, why would they even bother
We do get Cougars in the area, I've sadly never seen one, lots of coyotes as there are more or less everywhere - they are a risk to pets.

You will be fine, don't worry, enjoy the wildlife around here, it won't kill you!

scilly

I live in Vancouver, and even in the big city it is extremely unwise to have outdoor cats OR let small dogs out alone ............... coyotes are common especially in the new subdivision but even where we live in an "old" suburb. There always a notice or two on telephone poles in the neighbourhood re cat or small dog that's missing ........ and a couple of coyotes also live here.

One coyote was seen stalking a 4 year old girl in Surrey just this past weekend, and was only driven away by a man making a lot of noise. It was later tracked by conservation officers and killed.

The problem is people feeding these "cute" animals, and getting them accustomed to humans .......... normally they are shy and would keep away. Of course, feeding the cats and the bears is illegal, but people do it, and it only results in the animal being shot by conservation officer.


You do develop a bit of a different way of living if you are more in the country than we are (even in suburbs of Vancouver such as Surrey, and in North and West Vancouver) ....... bear proof garbage cans, not putting out garbage and compost cans until 7 am on the collection day (ie, not leaving them out overnight), picking fruit as soon as it is ripe and not leaving it on the tree or ground, not having bird seed where it can fall on the ground and the feeders well out of a bear's reach. Most certainly, not letting pets roam around on their own.


The advice we were always given when I was out collecting plants was to carry a bell and make as much noise as you can (singing, whistling, etc). We sometimes carried a small transistor radio playing loud music ...... any animal that hears you will keep out of your way. But coyotes and cougars could always decide to do a bit of stalking.


I do personally know someone who was killed in a bear attack, she was the sister of a close friend ......... so the advice given by everyone is not merely "play safe".

Stinkypup

Im not sure what you mean here- please explain, I might be being a bit thick

Stinkypup

It could be worse- you could be moving to Oz....gawd I hope anyone who has an aversion to certain creepy crawlies isn't looking at this ....apparently the worst thing that spouseofscouse, Dorothy, Pollyana et al have ever seen in Australia has been goldfish, a bad tempered earthworm and a large blue bottle- yeah right ladies, Australian wildlife is a real collection of fluffy kittens.

Dorothy

We actually had a train accident a couple of years ago at the 1st station south of me when the tracks had so many millipedes on them that the train couldn't stop and slid into the back of a stationary train ahead of it.
Portuguese millipedes suspected in Clarkson train collision | Perth Now

Stinkypup

Only in Australia ..... And no doubt each of the little beasties could kill an equivalent of an elementary class of school kids by tickling them with its antennae- in the UK they would just use it as yet another excuse for the trains to be late...

scilly

Stinkypup posted .......


Last edited by Stinkypup; Jun 29th 2017 at 4:15 am.


Don't worry about the noise. If you had read what I posted fully and understood it, you would have realised I was talking about years ago. Who carries transistor radios these days????? So you can stop being insulting about people older than you.


We were out collecting way beyond where you would ever be, no other people around except the small crew, it was either continually shout or sing, or have some other noise maker.

I won't make any other response to your other comment. There really isn't anything I could say

Stinkypup

Nope, I had a good reread and there was nothing to suggest that this was back in the day although given your posts I s'pose I should have guessed. You didn't suggest you were out in the Boonies either..... Maybe clarify next time .....? There is something called humour.... sometimes it is lost on ....people.

the_tones_guy

Haha, awesome.

caretaker

My friend in Trail lives on the edge of town, and bears will prowl the alleyway looking for trash (some communities have strict rules about when to set your garbage out because of bears). He has 2 cats that come and go through a window, and hasn't lost any. Another friend in East Vancouver lost an outdoor cat to a coyote. They were denning up along the skytrain route and in the bushes around Trout Lake, and that's an off-leash dog park! The coyote is incredibly adaptable.

the_tones_guy

Yes, I think we will be keeping the outdoor cat in, for his own safety, will build him a run I guess.

scrubbedexpat091

In Squamish when we lived there it was coyotes and bobcats that seemed to be the ones that went after pets. Never recall hearing about a bear taking pets.

We are in east Van and there are signs at the park up the street that explains how to co exist with coyotes. I frequently see coyotes in the morning when leaving for work.