What will bear season be like in 2019? MNRF says it depends on natural food sources

Spring is slowly coming to northeastern Ontario and that is a wake up call for black bears.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry says reports of bear sightings started in April.

Bear management technician Evelyn Brunner says many factors determine when bears come out of hibernation, including the temperature, the amount of snow left on the ground and the physical condition of the bears.

"We're anticipating that bears will be staying in their dens a little bit longer this year due to the snow amount on the ground," she said.

She says bears can lose up to one third of their weight during hibernation, meaning they'll be looking for food when they wake up.

"Right now, natural food sources in the spring consist of grass, clover and sometimes road kill," she said.

"It's tricky because these available food sources are scarce and can lead black bears to forage for not-natural food sources."

She says those include bird feeders and garbage.

"Bears and other wildlife start to lose their natural fear of humans or domestic pets if an easy food source continues to be available," she said.

'Monitoring' natural food sources

"But a lot of this takes a community to prevent conflicts with bears. As an individual, you may be doing your part, but if your neighbour is not, you may still get an encounter with a bear on your property as a result."

Last year, the ministry received 2,300 calls about bears in northeastern Ontario.

That was a little more than in 2017, but much less than the 4,600 bear reports from 2015.

Brunner says it's hard to tell what kind of bear season this year will be.

"It's a little bit early to tell yet," she said. "We do monitor natural food sources throughout the season so we can predict where conflicts might occur."

The ministry is conducting a census of Ontario's bear population with the final numbers expected to be released in 2021.

This will be the first detailed look at the population since the spring bear hunt returned five years ago.