Bears in Langley: seven things to do before they den for the winter
A black bear is eating around 20,000 calories a day right now, and this year it found them in Walnut Grove back yards and on the Muench Trail. The Township's cart bylaw, the bird-feeder rule, what to do on a trail, and when the conservation line actually wants your call.
Two Langley bear stories from this year, both from the Advance Times. In late June a black bear spent a weekend ambling through Walnut Grove, turning up near 208 Street and 93 Avenue and by the school on Walnut Grove Drive; one resident found a trash bin knocked over. On the evening of August 20 a woman walking the Muench Trail by Derby Reach was followed by a bear, yelled, ran, and was chased before she made it home. Nobody was hurt in either case, and the Conservation Officer Service said the same thing both times: lock up the garbage, the pet food and the birdseed.
That advice is more urgent in late October than in June. WildSafeBC calls this stretch hyperphagia, extreme eating, when a bear tries to put away around 20,000 calories a day before denning. Black bears here are usually in their dens from roughly December to April, but WildSafeBC adds a line worth remembering in a mild Fraser Valley winter: where a bear keeps finding food, it may not den at all. The bear that gets fed in November is the bear that is still in your lane in January.
So, seven jobs for the next few weeks, with the local rules attached.
1. Put the carts out in the morning, not the night before
In the Township of Langley this is bylaw, not advice. Garbage, Green Cart and recycling go to the curb no earlier than 8 pm the night before and by 7:30 am on collection day, and they come back in by the end of that day. The Township’s own Be Bear Aware page goes further and asks you to wait until the morning where you can, to cut the hours a cart sits out alone. Langley City says the cart should be at the curb by 7:30 am on your day and stored inside your property line, in the garage, back yard, or beside the house, never on the road or sidewalk. Find your day on our garbage and recycling page.
2. Store the carts somewhere a bear cannot tip
A shed or a garage is best. If you have neither, the Township asks that carts be secured so they cannot simply be knocked over. The Province’s bear page adds one that people forget: the back of a pickup under a canopy is not bear-proof, and the canopy is what gets wrecked.
3. Freeze the smelly stuff
Meat, bones, skin and fish scraps go in the freezer and into the Green Cart on the morning of collection. Rinse yogurt tubs and ice-cream containers before they go in the recycling, and wash the carts themselves now and then; the Township suggests mild detergent or water and vinegar. A clean cart has nothing to smell.
4. Take the bird feeder down until the bears are asleep
The Province is blunt about this: birdseed and suet are high-protein bear food, and feeders should be used only in winter when bears are denning and the birds actually need the help. If you will not take it down, bring it in every night, keep the ground under it clean, and put out small amounts so a bear that does get to it gets very little. The chickadees will be fine; the natural food is still out there in October.
5. Pick the fruit, all of it, including the ground
Any fruit or nut tree in the yard, pick as it ripens and clear the windfalls. The Province’s tip for a tree you cannot keep up with is to pick it green and let it ripen indoors, or let a neighbour pick it. A loaded apple tree in Brookswood or Fort Langley is a bear buffet with a view.
6. Clean the barbecue and the compost
Grease and the drip pan are a high-calorie meal, so scrape and empty them after every cook and cover the barbecue, or store it in a shed. For a backyard composter, the Township’s rules: no meat, fish or cooked food, a sprinkle of lime for the smell, and a layer of soil or grass clippings on top. If a bear keeps coming back to the pile, the pile has to go.
7. Know the trail drill, and keep the dog on the leash
The Muench Trail incident is the textbook case of what not to do, through no fault of the person involved: yelling and running can trigger a chase. The Province’s steps if you meet a bear: stay calm, do not run or climb a tree, back away slowly while talking in a low, even voice, do not scream, do not turn your back, do not stare it down. Keep a group together, pick up small children, bring pets in. Bear spray works within about seven metres. Make sure the bear has a clear way out, and keep an eye on it until it leaves. At Derby Reach dogs must be leashed everywhere except the Edgewater Bar off-leash area in any case, and the COS’s own advice after the August incident led with leashing pets and walking in groups.
When to call, and when not to
The Conservation Officer Service line is 1-877-952-7277 (RAPP). After the Walnut Grove sightings, the COS asked people not to call about a bear simply passing through a yard, a trail or an open space without damaging anything or acting aggressively. Call when a bear is getting into garbage, fruit trees, birdseed, pet food or a barbecue; when it does not run when yelled at; when it hangs around a park or school in daylight; when it is breaking into sheds, cars or garages; or when it charges or attacks a person or a pet. Feeding dangerous wildlife is against the law in BC.
The Township also asks that sightings in its area be reported to the same 1-877 number, and you can see what has been reported near you, and when, on WildSafeBC’s Wildlife Alert Reporting Program map. Questions about cart collection itself go to the Township at [email protected].
The short version: for the next six weeks, your garbage is the most interesting thing in the neighbourhood. Make it boring.