Reporting bear sightings

MYTH: If I call the Conservation Officer Service about a bear in my yard, they will just shoot it.

REALITY: Calling the Conservation Officer Service (COS) when you first see a bear in your neighbourhood or yard gives the COS more options to manage the bear. They can use safe aversion techniques to steer the bear clear of homes and attractants like garbage, recycling and barbeques and show the bear that being close to humans is not where it belongs.

If we let bears hang around in our back yards, we send a signal to them that this is normal behaviour. It’s not!

Once a bear gets used to being near people and has found unnatural food sources, it’s really hard to change its behaviour.

The next step is that the bear comes on your porch or tries to enter your home—and then it will be destroyed.

Don’t kill a bear with kindness by letting it hang around your house, and then calling the COS when it comes near your door. If a bear enters a building, the COS is obligated to destroy that bear due to the unacceptable public safety risk.

Contact

Report poorly managed wildlife attractants (garbage, recycling, compost or plants) to Bylaw Services.

Learn more about how to file a bylaw complaint.