Pensive Lily before becoming famous Will we be able to spread the word and educate enough people about bears in our lifetimes? Including decision-makers? This story shows the need.
We have been following the story of Allen Piche who has been quietly feeding bears near Christina Lake, BC, for 25 years and who was recently arrested, tried, and is awaiting sentencing for feeding bears. We know the notion of feeding bears is controversial. People have spent their careers teaching that feeding bears is always wrong—that a fed bear is a dead bear—based on what? We know where that saying comes from. There are plenty of examples of food leading bears into trouble—especially in campground and national parks. But around rural communities, data show that food can just as easily lead bears out of trouble. But it’s a relatively new idea and still at the stage where people laugh at it. You know the old saying about new ideas—first people laugh, then they think, and then they say of course—or something like that.
Allen Piche enjoyed feeding bears for 25 years. According to testimony in the trial, there were no unusual problems in a nearby populated area (2 miles away) called Christina Lake. Authorities arrested Allen and told him to stop feeding. Bears showed up at Christina Lake and 18 were shot. This is more bears than usual. The usual number is a half dozen or less. So the conclusion would be that Allen’s bears were so used to being fed that they couldn’t make a living on their own and went over to Christina Lake to see what they could find because they had forgotten how to forage naturally. Right? Wrong. After officials made sure what they thought were fed bears were surely dead bears by shooting 18 of them, Allen’s bears checked and re-checked his place for food. Allen photographed them for the record. He accounted for 20 of his 24 bears and the remaining 4 (Shy, Boothy, Tuffy, and Bouncer) had left early in the summer. Maybe they will show up and maybe not. Maybe they were among the 18.
Duffy - Gentle GiantAllen continued to give a little food to bears that showed up. He advocated putting food elsewhere to draw them away from his place if authorities didn’t want him feeding them where they were used to it, but they wouldn’t do that and concentrated on shooting bears at Christina Lake. Undercover officers posed as photographers and came to Allen’s place to take pictures. Allen helped them by putting a little food here and there to hold the bears in picturesque spots. They re-arrested him.
With the data coming together these days, Allen Piche is the one with data on his side. The officials had no data to support their beliefs and actions—only the usual untested assumptions about bear behavior. But that was enough for them to win in court. They have the degrees and official titles. Allen is not a biologist and has only his 25 years experience with bears and his observations of the minimal bear problems in his area to go by. The only major problems occurred after the Ministry of Natural Resources gave their heavy-handed and uninformed order to stop feeding.
There has to be something else going on here. Lily fans might be able to tell us. If we were to guess, natural food was probably scarce in that part of British Columbia this past summer. That probably led to more bears than usual showing up in populated area to eat garbage, birdseed, apple trees, etc. Authorities probably saw the increase in problems in Christina Lake, which probably were happening in other areas, too, and blamed the bear problems on Allen Piche. Instead of thanking him for doing diversionary feeding that is especially important for keeping bears out of trouble in a year of scarce natural food, they blamed him for any bear problems in the area and shut him down. But even then, his bears didn’t look in Christina Lake for food. They kept coming back to Allen’s proven place. Allen had a heart. He saw their hunger and gave them a little. Authorities held to their beliefs that feeding creates nuisance bears and that Allen was responsible for the problems in Christina Lake, so they arrested him again.
Allen is awaiting sentencing.
Gentle Jo with calm eyesEducation about the true nature of black bears and about what creates bear-human conflict and what can prevent it can save so many bears. The same principles undoubtedly apply to bears around the world. It is hard to get past the untested assumptions that have been the basis for professional bear management for so long. It is hard to get past the exaggerated fear that drives liability concerns and leads to so many bears being killed unnecessarily. It is hard for most people to see black bears for what they are—basically shy animals trying to make a living while staying out of trouble. Not demons. Not the angry beasts of magazine covers and TV programs. Just the bears that we have come to know and understand in our 45 years of research. If bears behaved the way many experts and the media say they do, we could not have done what we have done with them these several decades, and the residents of Eagles Nest Community would not have continued feeding and befriending them for a half century.
What can we do to better show the world what black bears are really like? How can we get close-minded people to be objective and look at data instead of clinging to their fear-based beliefs and agencies basing decisions on an exaggerated fear of liability problems? How can we achieve a sea-change in attitude that would allow people to see these animals without irrational fear and see them for what they really are?
Lily fans are helping with that.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center