{"id":35352,"date":"2023-08-08T13:31:44","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T20:31:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engage.gov.bc.ca\/bcparksblog\/?p=35352"},"modified":"2023-08-08T13:40:18","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T20:40:18","slug":"how-to-keep-a-bear-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engage.gov.bc.ca\/bcparksblog\/2023\/08\/08\/how-to-keep-a-bear-wild\/","title":{"rendered":"How to keep a bear wild"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Home<\/a>\n \n How to keep a bear wild\n <\/span>\n
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How to keep a bear wild<\/h1>\n
BC Parks News<\/a>, <\/span>Education<\/a>, <\/span>Responsible Recreation<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n
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Seeing bears is an exciting experience for park visitors. And how you behave in the park has a direct impact on the safety and wellbeing of bears and other wildlife. Bears that come into conflict with people, especially those that have learned to associate people with food, may pose a threat to public safety and may have to be destroyed. These tragedies have a lasting impact on many people including park rangers, other staff, and visitors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do preventable bear-people conflicts result in the death of bears? Read on to see how inappropriate human behaviour leads to this incredibly sad outcome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does \u2018a fed bear is a dead bear\u2019 mean?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Did you know that wildlife (such as bears) has a strong sense of smell and are attracted to human food, garbage, and other items that smell like a potential food source? These unnatural food sources are known as wildlife attractants. When bears become food-conditioned to human food, garbage, and other unnatural attractants, they begin to seek out these food rewards and can even recognize coolers and other attractants by sight. A bear that has learned to associate food with humans is considered to have been fed, regardless of whether people have intentionally fed the bear or have failed to manage their attractants responsibly through littering and improper food\/attractant storage. This can be an exceptionally dangerous situation for both bears and park visitors. When bears learn to associate people with food, they may become aggressive when seeking out these food sources and may have to be destroyed in the interest of public safety. Hence the saying, \u201ca fed bear is a dead bear\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are wildlife attractants?\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n