0.3°C Light Snow 
It would be easy to characterize Whistler’s bear problem as a problem with bears, but such a conclusion would be wrong. No, our bear problem is not really about bears at all. It is about the habits of people, and in particular our tradition of carelessly discarding food scraps and other ursine edibles from our tables.
So far this year, eight black bears have been killed in and around Whistler for breaking into houses in search of food. Last year we experienced Whistler’s first recorded injury of a person at the paws of a bear, followed by two more bear-initiated injuries this year, sustained when Whistlerites surprised bears that were rummaging through their pantries and garbage bins. There is fear in the air, and exasperation. It is an untenable state of affairs, and if current trends continue, it will get worse before it gets better.
The stakes are increasing for bears and people alike. As bears become more food-conditioned and habituated, their interactions with people become more frequent and potentially more dangerous. Bolder bruins are learning that buildings contain food, and they are increasingly inclined to climb through windows and walk through doors in search of an easy meal.
Concerned with the gravity of the situation, I made a visit to see Dr. Stephen Herrero, one of the world’s foremost experts on bears and bear-human conflicts. He is a tall, lanky man whose quiet demeanor has served him well during his 40-year career in the world of bear conservation. I listened as he recounted a recent trip to pre-Olympic China, where he helped locals develop plans to reduce unwanted conflicts with bears. Next month he’s headed to Hokkaido, in northern Japan, to do the same. In both cases, like everywhere, the answer involves changing the behaviour of people, not bears.
I asked him about Whistler’s bear problem.
“I have no doubt it’s a problem that can be solved,” he said in his quiet and respectful way. “But they are going to have to learn to live with the bears.”
Dr. Herrero points to Yosemite National Park in California as the closest parallel to the Whistler situation. Like Whistler, Yosemite is awash in black bears. Ten years ago, garbage dumps, trash cans, tents and coolers were easy pickings for Yosemite’s ingenious ursids. According to Dr. Herrero, they had become so food conditioned “they would break into anything and everything,” including cars and buildings.
The situation grew out of control. Bears injured people at alarming rates, and park rangers killed alarming numbers of black bears trying to keep the public safe. Eventually, park officials installed bear-proof storage lockers at campgrounds and a bear-proof waste management system everywhere. They hired more staff to provide visitor education and enforce food storage orders. As far as the bears were concerned, human food and garbage had all but disappeared, and once the most incorrigible offenders had been removed, human-bear conflicts and property damage dropped by 90 per cent.
To its credit, Whistler already uses many of the strategies necessary to follow in Yosemite’s footsteps. Aversive conditioning teaches bears that they are not welcome in and around our communities, and a combination of public education and strong, well-enforced bylaws encourages residents and visitors to keep garbage out of the maws of bears.
The missing piece of the puzzle is a bear-proof solid waste management system that prevents bears from accessing garbage. To be effective, such a system must be convenient and easy to use for every member of the community. Having to drive your garbage a mile or more to the nearest bear-proof disposal site is neither easy nor convenient for many people, which means the rate of compliance will always be inadequate.
It’s time to stop talking about whether to commit to an effective communal bear-proof garbage management system and to band together as a community and figure out how to make it happen before the world descends on our doorstep in 2010.
The reality is there is no other option. Humans are obviously here to stay, and getting rid of the bears would require an all-out war involving poison and pump-action shotguns that public opinion simply will not support.
Without a truly bear-proof waste management system, bears will continue to break into homes and put people’s lives at risk. In the end, nobody wins, and Whistler will become yet another symbol of intolerance and unsustainability rather than an inspiring example of how people can work together to coexist with the natural world of which they are a part.
Jeff Gailus is an award-winning writer, member of the Get Bear Smart Society, and frequent visitor of Whistler’s beautiful black bears.
