The provincial coordinator of WildSafe BC says with people spending more time at home because of COVID-19, it’s a good time to think about bear-proofing your property.

Vanessa Isnardy says people should be thinking about spring cleaning in their yards and securing bear attractants on your property.

“Well it’s definitely a good time to start thinking about it. In some Lower Mainland areas, we’re seeing some bear activity already. Using the Wildlife Alert reporting system that we have on our website will give you an idea of if there’s any bear activity that has been reported to the COS.”

Isnardy says taking down bird feeders, cleaning barbecues and not putting garbage out the night before are good ways to be bear-aware as well.

“By the time someone reports a bear that’s accessed garbage, that’s almost too late for that bear, so we want people to start thinking about that now… Managing your attractants may be very low on people’s priority list, but it’s still really important,” she says.