It was a record spring for human and bear conflicts with 3,826 calls relating to black bears and 182 calls for grizzly bears encounters in April and May.

That is according to Chris Doyle, a Deputy Chief with the BC Conservation Office Service, who says those figures are the highest they’ve been in eight years.

“The reasons for the high call volume aren’t clear but you know some of the things that it could be attributed to is a cold, dry spring which led to poor availability of new growth for food for bears to emerge from their dens,” he told Radio NL.

The average over the last eight years has been 2,400 and 82 calls for black bears and grizzly bears respectively.

“So its important to remember that people need to take responsibility for attractants that are bringing bears into conflict,”Doyle added. “Residents and businesses need to make sure that they are securing attractants around their homes and businesses so we’re not bringing bears into conflict.”

Over that two month span, Doyle says 131 black bears and 4 grizzly bears had to be put down.

“Our bears are accessing garbage or damaging property or getting at livestock, there are other issues you know with bears becoming habituated and indifferent to the presence of humans, and a lot of those types of conflicts are caused by insecure attractants,” he said.

Doyle adds it’s illegal to feed wildlife, and notes ‘conflicts’ can range from bear attacks to sightings in developed areas and can also include everything from charging, habitual garbage eating, and livestock attacks.