Episode 301: Whistler faces feeding crisis

Following our break for the 2015 Living With Wildlife Conference, we’re getting back into it with a tough situation facing bears – and those who want to protect them – in Whistler, British Columbia.

An unprecedented food shortage has affected the behaviour of the bears, who through September and October are looking for calories anywhere they can be found. As a result of this unique situation, Sylvia Dolson and the Get Bear Smart Society proposed a provincially-operated diversionary feeding program – effectively, they wanted to put natural foodstuffs into the wild areas to prevent the bears from pushing closer to human settled areas and the subsequent conflict that would arise.

The province ultimately rejected this plan and, despite Whistler’s reputation of being a Bear Smart community, several bears have been killed following conflict scenarios.

To discuss this difficult situation, potential solutions, and what the real cost of the consequences will be, Sylvia recently joined Defender Radio.