Walking through a neighbourhood where one spots a tree in full fall splendour, with leaves turning colour and ripening fruit, sun kissed and juicy, hanging plentifully from its branches, a person may be humbly struck by the bounty of Mother Nature in our Rocky Mountains.
Unfortunately, bears feel the same way.
But, unlike pedestrians who are content to admire the scene from a sidewalk’s distance, possibly pondering the delicacies that could be created from said bounty, bruins have no compulsion about moving in and simply helping themselves.
Which brings us to last weekend’s event in Canmore’s Peaks of Grassi neighbourhood, where a male black bear attracted first to natural food such as buffalo berries turned its attention to other, possibly more attractively scented food, such as fruit trees and garbage.
The end result, as is so often the case, is that this bear felt the sting of a tranquilizer dart, only to later find itself kilometres away in strange territory, where it may have to fight for its life to survive should it be in another’s territory.
So, again, as the saying goes, a fed bear may end up being a dead bear.
Once again, the issue of fruit trees as wildlife attractants in our communities has arisen – with no clear solution.
On the one hand, there are those such as the letter writer on page 23 who believe removing wildlife attracting foods in our communities has gone too far. Many homeowners are loath to remove fruit trees that have graced their yards, possibly for decades, as a means of preserving a way of life on their property. Other homeowners turn Mother Nature’s bounty into delicious goods for their winter larder.
On the other hand, there are those who have removed bear attracting shrubs, bushes and trees from their property in the interest of living safely and amicably with our wildlife. They’ve chosen to re-plant with varieties that won’t attact bears.
Then there is the between ground; properties with fruit trees growing on them, many of large size, which are simply left alone throughout the growing season. On these trees, the worst examples in our neighbourhoods, fruit is left to mature, ripen, then drop to the ground to rot, often becoming bear attractants.
With buffalo berries and other morsels such as Saskatoons having gone through a poor growing season, the attraction of fruit trees in yards for bears cannot be dismissed.
So what’s to be done?
In Canmore, the bylaw reads (3.2) that no person or owner of a parcel of land shall permit fruit from a tree or bush, or otherwise located on a parcel of land, to accumulate on the tree, bush or ground such that it attracts dangerous wildlife.
That seems clear enough.
In Banff, wording exists re: fruit trees and buffalo berry bushes that – Residents and businesses must remove any fruit trees or shrubs from their property. It’s not enough to pick fruit off the ground because bears seek out fruit ripening in trees. A fence is no impediment to bears due to their climbing skills.
That seems clear enough and there seems to be two courses of action to be taken.
First, and we’re admittedly not sure this would address the situation, but homeowners could take it upon themselves to remove bear attracting vegetation on their properties, or, failing that, ensure fruit trees are pruned to the point (ie. orchard management) where fall fruit can easily be picked before it becomes a bear attractant.
Let’s face it, nobody is climbing up into a 20- or 30-foot crabapple tree to pick a few baskets to make jelly.
Secondly, failing voluntary action, there remains proactive enforcement and fines.
So really, it comes down to getting on board with properly attending to fruit trees or taking a hit on fines and possibly orders and costs of tree removal.
