Advocates for Canadian Wildlife say there was an over 50 per cent drop in the number of black bears killed by the BC Conservation Officer Service in Kamloops year over year.

The Fur-Bearers say in 2022, six black bears were killed in the Tournament Capital, compared to 13 killed by the provincial conservation service the year prior.

Director of Advocacy and Policy Aaron Hoffman says while it is a great improvement, he says there is still more work to do.

“It is encouraging to see that fewer black bears had to be killed last year than the year prior, however, we are seeing a bit of a trend in Kamloops numbers that they actually fluctuate year by year,” he explained.

“So there might be a high number of bears killed one year and then a low number killed in the next.”

It comes as five black bears were killed by the BC Conservation Officer Service in Kamloops in 2020, with Hoffman explaining it is difficult to say why that fluctuation occurs.

“It is hard to say what causes it, obviously events such as the fires probably have a large role to play so if natural food sources are diminished, we will see bears come into communities, looking for unnatural food sources.”

The Fur-Bearers say 500 black bears were killed by the BC Conservation Officer Service in 2022, a drop of 81 from 2021.

Hoffman says municipalities and citizens need to take proactive steps to protect black bears.

“At the municipal level, that is ensuring there are strong bylaws against feeding wildlife or attractant management and for citizens it is education, it is letting people know that their actions or inactions can impact wildlife — it get bears killed — so people need to ensure they are managing their attractants, picking fruit trees when they are ripe, that sort of stuff.”

Hoffman hopes that by identifying communities where bears are killed with the greatest frequency, questions about systemic issues can lead to an end to killings.

Over 88 black bears were killed by the conservation service in Kamloops between 2015 and 2022.