Prince George named ‘deadliest’ place for black bears in BC by advocacy group

Prince George tops the list of the most dangerous places for black bears in British Columbia in 2022, according to a wildlife advocacy group.

The Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing Animals, also known as Fur-Bearers, announced Tuesday that the city in northern B.C. is among the province’s eight “deadliest communities” for black bears, based on data released obtained through requests for freedom of information from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.

By 2022, conservation officials have listed 32 black bears in Prince George, 21 in Nelson and 14 in Castlegar.

Twelve bears were set each in Okanagan Falls, Revelstoke and West Kelowna. Ten bears were each placed in Nanaimo and Port Alberni on Vancouver Island.

These eight areas accounted for a quarter of the 500 total black bears killed in BC last year, reports Fur-Bearers, which looked at data from 400 communities across the province.

It is the organization’s second year to publish data on black bears killed by conservationists, and Prince George is the only city to rank among the top in both years.

In 2021, 36 bears were killed in the northern B.C. city, and according to data from Fur-Bearers, of the nearly 4,300 black bears put down in B.C. between 2015 and 2022, 236 were in Prince George — the most recorded in the province for that time period.

Advocate for changes in bear encounters

Fur-Bearers has spent years advocating for changes in the way conservationists in BC handle bear encounters.

The group argues that BC’s Wildlife Act prohibits officers from killing animals unless they pose a threat to people or property. However, the province replies that the law gives civil servants the freedom to do this or not.

In 2017 the organization filed a lawsuit to a conservationist who killed a bear cub at Dawson Creek the previous year, but lost the case at the Supreme Court of BC.

In his ruling, Judge GC Weatherill endorsed the Chief Conservation Officer’s assessment of the incident, saying that in some circumstances conservation officials have the discretion and authority to kill wildlife that poses no threat.

“I find it inconceivable that the legislature intended to limit officers’ wildlife management powers to kill wildlife to those who are free to roam and likely to cause harm,” Weatherill said in its ruling.

Aaron Hofman, director of advocacy and policy at Fur-Bearers, says black bears are often killed by conservationists when they access detritus and spend time in densely populated areas, seeking unnatural food sources of unsecured attractants.

“I would push back the idea that once they have access to human resources, they should be killed and they pose a threat to public safety — they may not be,” he said.

While Prince George has implemented strong waste management programs to prevent bears from being attracted to waste, Hofman says more needs to be done.

“Cities can ensure that their [waste] bins are nature resistant. They can enact statutes against feeding wildlife,” he said.

“They can require residents to pick their fruit trees. They can make sure bird feeders are only out during certain parts of the year. So all of these things play a role in preventing black bears from accessing natural food sources in urban centers.”

CBC News has contacted the Department of Environment and Climate Change, which is responsible for the BC Conservation Officer Service, for comment. The city of Prince George declined to comment on the advocacy group’s findings.