A bear wrestled to get its lunch, but it was trash bins that won the battle.
On his way to Minnekhada Regional Park, Daniel Campos captured footage of a young black bear trying to open several garbage collection cans on the Port Coquitlam side of Burke Mountain earlier this week.
The local photographer ended up watching the youth unsuccessfully try to find something to eat out five total bins in front of the Rocklin on the Creek townhomes after pulling over to watch the show on Victoria Drive.
In Campos' video, the bear appeared to have taken down two trash bins and decided to try to crack one of them open.
However, the cans appear to have been sealed tight by the homeowner, forcing the animal to turn it upside down in hopes any scrap of food will fall out.
"It was hungry, a lot of saliva coming out of his mouth," Campos told the Tri-City News on Thursday (Aug. 26).
He added he was particularly impressed with the surrounding neighbourhood's seemingly normal behaviour while the creature desperately attempted to satisfy its hunger.
"It's funny to see how people interact with those animals. A lady was peacefully gardening the house less than 10m away. Kids were playing on the other side. There's a bus stop nearby."
Local photographer Daniel Campos captured a black bear trying to wrestle a couple of Port Coquitlam trash bins in hopes of obtaining its lunch, but the cans were tightly sealed by the homeowner. By Daniel CamposThe complex is located about two blocks west from the DeBoville Slough trail, where black bears frequently make seasonal appearances in which joggers, cyclists, walkers and even horseback riders have cooperated with local wildlife.
AUGUST BEAR ENCOUNTERS
As of 3 p.m. today (Aug. 27), WildSafeBC has recorded 214 known bear sightings or encounters across the Tri-Cities throughout August, including more than 80 in Port Coquitlam the last four weeks.
This is according to its Wildlife Alert Reporting Program.
The organization also encourages residents to consider the following tips around bears:
- Keep your garbage in or secured until the day of collection. Garbage is the number one attractant cited in reports to the provincial hotline
- Manage your fruit trees
- Don’t let windfalls accumulate, and pick fruit as it ripens
- If you don’t want the fruit, consider...
- Accessing a fruit gleaning group in your community
- Washing the blossoms off in the spring so the fruit doesn’t set
- Replacing the tree with a non-fruit bearing variety
- Don’t put out bird feeders when bears are active
- A kilo of bird seed has approximately 8,000 calories and is a great reward for a hungry bear
- Keep your compost working properly with lots of brown materials and a regular schedule of turning
- If you have livestock or backyard chickens use a properly installed and maintained electric fence to keep bears and livestock apart
The public is also being reminded to check all of your surroundings when out in the backcountry as bears are known to hang out in trees.
