For the second year in a row Chineside residents in Coquitlam and Port Moody are being warned to lock up garbage, bird seed and any bear attractants because of bruins wandering their neighbourhood.
The City of Coquitlam posted on Facebook that a mother bear with two cubs is frequenting the Chineside and Gatensbury areas of Coquitlam and Port Moody.
“It appears that the sow is accessing bird feeders on second-story decks, has gotten into garbage previously and is becoming conditioned to human food,” the city stated in its post to residents.
Fortunately, the female bear is still scared when people approach and the cubs will scoot up a tree.
The worry is they will become too familiar with the area, and the available food, and won’t leave.
For people who leave their attractants out, a fine of $500 could be levied against them, the city warns.
Last year, the concern was a skinny adolescent bear with a bald patch on his back side who was spotted pulling a raw chicken out of an unsecured waste bin in the Chineside rea.
It later came back on garbage pick up day to look for more food.
The concern is that bears are emerging from their dens extremely hungry and there is not a lot for them to eat besides grass. Consequently, they’ll move to an area where garbage isn’t locked up and dig in for some high-calorie food waste.
The warning comes as conservation officers have had to destroy two bears in Anmore and one in Coquitlam this spring for being a safety risk after they became habituated to garbage and the neighbourhood.
