Dozens of bears have been seen prowling the 100 Mile House area in the first two weeks of October alone, some of them right in town.
Sgt. Len Butler, Cariboo-Chilcotin Zone supervisor for the Conservation Officer Service, notes there have been numerous bear complaints coming in from area residents.
"For [Oct. 1-17], already we are looking at about 43 different complaints, and that is not even a third of what is happening."
That's because not everyone reports sightings to the authorities, and although many post sightings on Facebook, he says the COs don't respond unless they have a first-person account of a sighting or conflict.
One account posted Oct. 16 on Facebook indicated a resident on Dogwood Avenue had a bear in her mudroom that morning. When startled, the animal apparently took a bag of garbage out of the can and carried it outside to continue munching.
"In the last three months, [the CO service] has been hit very hard with the number of complaints."
About 27 of the 43 complaints during the first half of month were reported within the 100 Mile House boundaries or in 108 Mile Ranch, Butler adds.
The 108 Mile Ranch community has seen the most bears reported for the 100 Mile House service area, he notes, with bears in areas surrounding the municipality the next most commonly seen.
"It is very frustrating to deal with. People have to be diligent with their attractants because when you put a tin can [in the trap] and try to get an animal to go in it – when they can just go to a garbage can and open it up – it is pretty difficult to get a bear into a trap some days."
Eliminating bear attractants includes safely storing garbage, pet food and barbecues, as well as picking fruit off of trees, which Butler explains is another "huge" issue.
"It is picking up fruit that falls on the ground, that is the other big problem – people just leave it there.
"You are putting your neighbours in harm's way, too. Everyone will call and say 'well, I have kids', but the neighbourhoods have to help themselves. We don't pick fruit."
He adds people who don't remove attractants are also to blame for bears being killed because once habituated by food from humans, they can't be successfully relocated to wild lands.
"If someone has fruit or garbage out, and we have to respond, they can either be charged with attracting dangerous wildlife, they can be ticketed, or they can be given a Dangerous Wildlife Restraining Order [DWPO]."
The DWPO typically orders the property owner to clean up the attractants, and if they don't, Butler says a ticket will follow.
"But, there are so many [residents with bear attractants], I don't know how we even do it."