A Burnaby woman wants to see more bear-resistant bins in her neighbourhood after black bears were found rummaging through garbage last week.
Carol Stoppel lives in the Ran Beamish Place housing complex, run by the Metro Vancouver Housing Corporation and located at the base of Burnaby Mountain.
On June 1, two bruins came down to feed on the “overflowing” organics bins, which hadn’t been emptied in at least a couple of weeks, according to Stoppel.
“I called the emergency line provided for tenants and was told to contact the City of Burnaby, as this was not considered a property management emergency,” she says, adding the organics bin has a lock on it while the recycling and garbage cans don’t.
Stoppel and a neighbour then proceeded to clean up the organics bin the bears had tipped over.
The following day, she followed up with the complex’s maintenance staff in person and also called the housing corporation.
“No one came to clean up or remove the garbage, and on Sunday, another bear came down to eat again,” says Stoppel. “Again, we called the emergency line, and we were told to call (Burnaby) RCMP or the city.”
Mounties and conservation officers did come by the complex, adds Stoppel, but the overturned bin and spilled garbage were left where they sat. The bins were emptied on Monday.
While Stoppel admits she isn’t scared for own safety, as she’s very “bear aware,” she is scared for her neighbours.
“A lot of the people who live here are new to Canada or new to B.C. They’re very surprised to see the bear. My neighbour said, ‘I didn’t know there were bears in this area.’ They’re not really wildlife aware, and they’re coming out to look at the bear up close, and it’s such a dangerous situation,” she says, suggesting more awareness is needed around what it means to live in a bear-friendly area.
Some neighbours don’t lock the organics bin, adds Stoppel, because they don’t know how or they just don’t care.
“As soon as the organics bin is full, they start throwing food in the regular garbage bin.”
The Burnaby resident wants to see “the proper kinds of bins” installed in her neighbourhood and others where wildlife are known to roam.
“I don’t see why we don’t have the kinds of bins they have in parks, where you have to reach inside and unlatch it,” she tells the NOW.
Stoppel also wants the property manager to monitor the bins closely to ensure they’re being picked up on time.
Ulryke Weissgerber, Metro Vancouver’s division manager of housing area operations, says the bins are serviced by a third-party hauler and are serviced weekly.
“There can be issues over and above that, and we are working with both our hauler and our residents in terms of being extremely aware of spillage and how important that is,” she says.
Weissgerber notes Metro Vancouver is in its second year of providing the green bins to its multi-family complexes, and her department is working through the issues.
“We’re doing our best to educate staff, contractors and tenants,” she says.
The hauler is also experimenting with a couple of different odor suppressant products, adds Weissgerber, and plans are underway to make all the bins bear-proof. Educational materials are also being sent out to residents.
Meanwhile, the City of Burnaby launched a year-long pilot project with five multi-family complexes in the Forest Grove, Stoney Creek and Cariboo neighbourhoods last summer. The complexes receive bear-resistant green bin collection service from the city.
The project, according to a staff report, is meant to identify: the bins’ effectiveness and durability, the challenges in servicing the containers, any bylaw amendments that may be required and the scope and scale of an outreach program.
Bear calls up
The number of calls related to black bear sightings in Burnaby are up, according to Sgt. Todd Hunter with the B.C. Conservation Officer Service.
There were 302 calls in 2016, and there has already been 156 calls so far this year.
“Predominantly, they are related to unnatural food sources (like) garbage,” says Hunter. “They don’t have a lot of food sources at this time, in May and June. ... They can get underneath the highway relatively easy. We used to get them reported running across the highway or getting hit and killed there, but now we have those wildlife underpasses.”
Hunter notes his department is working with cities across Metro Vancouver, including Burnaby, on bylaws related to pick-up times and storage, and making sure enforcement is taking place.
“As long as we get some bylaws that are pretty clear to residents that you cannot store it outside (where it’s) readily accessible, and cannot go out to the street for pickup well before pickup time. ... The establishment of those pickup times is really essential to us.”
Should it come down to it, Hunter says the conservation officer service can slap folks with a $230 fine under the Wildlife Act if they’re found having a bin outside that’s accessible to wildlife.
While Hunter encourages people to report any bear sightings, as it helps staff track their activity, he says not all of the calls will be responded to. That is, unless the bear is showing aggressive behaviour or is frequenting an area often.
“Prevention is better than confrontation,” says Hunter, so it’s best to not leave food out.
“There’s not a lot of options to deal with the management of them, and unfortunately they’re contributing, if bears are getting into their garbage, to their demise.”
