12 bears killed on Vancouver Island’s Pacific coast this year amid surge in conflicts

Since April, there have been 337 calls about bear encounters in the Tofino-Ucluelet area, a 400-per cent increase over last year.

Conservation officers on Vancouver Island are struggling to explain a surge in human-bear conflicts which has forced them to put down an uncharacteristically high number of the animals this year.

Since April, there have been 337 calls about bear encounters in the Tofino-Ucluelet area, a 400-per cent increase over last year.

Conservation officers have had to euthanize a dozen of those bears which had become habituated to garbage or other human attractants ranging from chicken coops to bird feeders.

“In one case the bear actually walked through the front door in the middle of the afternoon with a family in the house, after it had been chased out of the garage earlier that day,” Sgt. Stuart Bates with the Conservation Officer Service said.

“That’s an extreme public safety risk.”

Officers have conducted patrols and found that area residents have been keeping their trash indoors until garbage day.

But along with a few homes, the animals have broken into sheds, garages and back porches, he said.

“Once a bear has lost its fear of people and it’s learned to associate the people as having food sources around them, it’s not a habit we can unteach them,” he said.