Bear calls down in Sudbury this summer: MNRF, police
Better berry crop for bears, more education for residents credited with keeping some bears away
Both the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry and the Greater Sudbury Police are reporting fewer bear calls this summer.
District manager for the MNRF, Ross Hart, said the call volume to the Bear Wise hotline is down by half this year compared to last.
Specifically, the Bear Wise line had 600 calls this year between Apr. 1 and Aug. 25. That's down from the 1,790 that came in over the summer of 2015.
Hart said he thinks there was a better crop of wild blueberries for the bears, so they weren't wandering into neighbourhoods following the scent to garbage, bird feeders and barbecues.
Hart also attributes much of the decrease in bear calls to education. He said more people now know how to keep bears away from their property.
And, he said it's helpful that residents have several avenues to report bear sightings. Those include the MNRF Bear Wise phone line, and the city's Report-a-Bear website.
In an emergency, residents can also call police if a bear is threatening someone.
Greater Sudbury Police reported 329 calls regarding bears this summer compared to 1200 last summer.
Inspector Mike Chapman said the creation of a communication strategy between police, the city and the MNRF has helped.
He said the public is now more aware of which agency to call in specific bear situations.
"In order to not generate as much work for our dispatchers we did provide a bear information line, so as a result we received 329 bear calls, but 89 of those calls were deferred to the bear information line where people received information ... on who to call in regards to their specific situation," Chapman said.
Hart said recently, there has been a slight spike in bear calls to the various agencies, particularly over the past week.
He said that's because their natural food sources seem to dwindling with the end of the season, and bears are left looking for new food sources.
"The temperature is maybe slightly changing, little chillier at night ... that they have to fatten up and get ready for their hibernation," Hart said.