GREENSTONE – While the municipality continues to mull over the best course of action, residents in the municipality of Greenstone are getting antsy about an overwhelming number of bear sightings.
The question it all comes down to is, who bears the responsibility for solving the problem?
In 2012, the ministry of natural resources and forestry revised its policy for the “Bear Wise” program. Among the most significant changes was that the MNRF would longer provide site visits to assist landowners with bear conflicts, nor trap and relocate problem bears.
Despite these changes, municipalities still require special authorization from the ministry to deal with bears.
“The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry continues to support the municipality of Greenstone, and residents, as they address an increase in reports of bears,” the ministry said in a statement provided to Dougall Media. “The ministry will continue to educate the public on being 'Bear Wise,' however the residents need to avoid attracting bears to the neighbourhood by eliminating attractants.”
The OPP’s official stance on the matter is that “the management and dispatch of domestic or wild animals is not a core policing duty” and “[the] decision to dispatch an animal by the OPP is always made on the basis of whether it is potentially dangerous or suffering.”
Residents of Greenstone continue to voice their concern across social media, often accompanied by numerous photos and videos of bears tearing through garbage bags or spending significant amounts of time sniffing around their property.
The municipality says it's taken steps to address the issue, but also relies on cooperation from residents.
“The municipality has certainly been working with the MNRF and with the OPP,” said Mayor Jamie MacPherson. “We’ve brought in bear management technicians, we brought in a trap, we’ve gone door-to-door educating people – it’s changing habits for all of us, especially this time of year. It’s not something we’ve had to do for awhile and this year has especially been bad right through a couple of the wards.”
CAO Mark Wright echoed the Mayor’s sentiments, reiterating that the municipality will continue to communicate with residents throughout the bear season.
He added that calling the Bear Wise line, at 1-866-514-2327, remains one of the best ways to help the municipality and ministry keep track of “hot spots”.
“For nuisance bears, education seems to be the most effective way [to prevent further bear encounters],” said Wright. “Other methods – such as trapping – have been found not to be effective, mainly because so long as the attractants are still there, the bears will return a very great distance to find easy food.”
Wright went on to add that Greenstone council does “have a new property standards by-law coming up and we will take a look at better ways we can enforce things like not leaving garbage out” but also noted “that in itself poses a process that needs to take place before [they] can go address the issue.”
“Safety is number one,” said MacPherson. “Anything we can do to improve the situation and ensure the safety of everyone.”