The conclusion of “The Bear Limit” a four part series on the ecology of black bears and grizzly bears in the Columbia region by Michael Morris, Parks Canada.

The only instance where grizzly bears lose their normal behaviour of avoiding people is when food is involved. Human foods are highly attractive for these curious and intelligent animals. Once they learn a food source they never forget it. We leave behind garbage, fruit tree windfalls, hunting gut piles, picnic baskets, all of which can attract bears. Unfenced garbage dumps in particular cause high bear mortality. Intolerance of grizzly bears near communities results in an average of 49 bears per year being destroyed by BC Conservation Officers and persons concerned for their safety or property. Many more kills go unreported.

For black bears, the most common urban attractants are garbage, compost, fruit trees, animal feeds and barbecues. In more rural settings agricultural fruit crops, grain spills from rail cars, livestock and bee hives are common attractants which bring bears into close contact with people. They condition bears to forage near our residences and create circumstances whereby bears damage property and result in the bear’s destruction. Human carelessness with such foods result in food conditioned bears. Over the past decade Conservation Officers in BC disposed of an average of 1180 black bears per year because of a perceived threat from these nuisance bears.

Capturing and relocating problem bears is difficult, expensive and stressful for all concerned. Captured bears are routinely destroyed. Some relocation effort has been invested in grizzly bears because they are a recognized threatened species. Starting in 1994, nine female grizzly bears, captured by the Provincial Conservation Officer Service in human-bear conflict situations, were radio-collared and moved distances ranging from 43 km to 200 km away from their capture site. The Upper Columbia Bear Research Project (UCBRP) then tracked these bears for up to seven years. At the same time, the UCBRP followed a sample of 18 wild female grizzlies.

Two of the nine problem bears returned to their original capture location - the two that had been moved the shortest distances. Both returning bears became problems a second time. Two of the seven non-returning bears became problems in their new homes.

Most of the relocated bears wandered widely and erratically compared to the wild bears. The average home range size of a translocated bear was 1053 km2, almost eight times the home range size of a wild bear (143 km2). They wandered so widely, it was difficult for field technicians to find these radio collared bears from week to week.

During the study, five of the nine relocated bears died: one was killed by another grizzly, one was destroyed after a second move, one was killed by an unknown cause after a second move, one was shot by a hunter, and one was killed by a landowner protecting his livestock. During the same time, 5 of 18 wild female grizzlies died while radio-collared: two were killed by other grizzlies, one was killed by an avalanche, one was killed by a hunter, and one was killed illegally.

This boils down to mortality rates of 39% for the relocated bears compared to 11% for wild adult female bears. This mixed success in moving grizzlies underscores the need to address the conditions that cause bears to be labeled as problems in the first place.

Nothing better represents the current struggle to maintain a portion of the wild, natural world than issues associated with grizzly bears. Human caused mortality and habitat loss are linked to the loss of grizzly bears from much of western North America. Their requirement for large, ecologically intact areas beyond national parks challenges our unlimited use of our environment. Our fear and lack of understanding of what they require to live has brought us to a time where their existence will be determined by our willingness to co-exist.