We may have Bear Aware in Revelstoke but it seems some us are not aware of the Bears.
Twenty or more bruins euthanized (such a delicate word for the word ‘killed’) within city limits, so far and we’re probably not done pickin’ ’em off yet. C’mon people, we’re eliminating our city’s main natural symbol at an alarming rate; 20 mature animals and cubs within a kilometre of our massive bronze statues that pay homage to the noble bear.
So who’s to blame? This will be no namby-pamby, “We all are.” No, sir. We’re going to go to the heart of the matter. To start with, another local journal, in it’s Question of the Day, asks if the city as a whole, is doing enough to be bear aware. So far, public input has been 70 per cent “No!” (It’s to be remembered that such straw votes are worth about the same amount of time it takes to make them up — not much.) However, it is a loose sample of what the populace is thinking. The “City as a Whole” is not to blame. I’m guessing but I think the majority of Revelstokians are quite aware and govern themselves accordingly. How about City staff and Council? No. If you’ve been paying attention there have been many notices and stories in this fine periodical and others, plus the Mayor’s Report that have flogged this issue to death. (No pun intended.) Bear Aware has done its usual yeoman’s job of getting the word out. Only the most stunned among us would say, “Oh, I dunno…”
That leaves slovenly, ignorant, lazy, property owners and renters who leave bear lures all over their properties. They’re easy to spot. It’s often those who have kids’ toys strewn all over the yard, old boats and cars junking up the place, lawns seldom mowed, garbage ignored, restaurants that don’t close and latch their dumpsters, those with unsecured composers and on, and on. Is this akin to psychological profiling, which, we are told is politically incorrect? Could be but we all do it; can’t deny it.
Hold on, though. What about the bear’s point of view? The Yellowstone example is a lesson in ursusian behaviour. In 1970 Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming decommissioned the last of its landfill garbage dumps; not only closed them but dug out the refuse, carted it away and filled the holes with clean earth, hoping that would stop the bears from visiting.
Tilt! According to the Section Hiker website a dog’s sense of smell is 100 times greater than ours. A bloodhound’s is 300 times more. A bear’s is 700 times greater than the bloodhound — 2,100 times more than a human. That’s why a number of bears that were relocated from Yellowstone continued to return to the site of their old smorgasbord for 20+ years, some from as far away as 50+ miles. Seems they also have good memories.
It’s also a fact that a bear’s olfactory brain section is 3 times larger than ours but its entire grey matter is 4 times smaller.
This is an Ah-Ha moment! It takes a larger brain to be 4 times less intelligent than a bear.
Yours in social sarcasm,
Ms. Anne Throap
Revelstoke, BC
Pet Peeve of the Month
Accessories to murder in the slaughter of bears:
You know who you are and so do we. You’re easy to identify by your sloppy yards, rotting fruit under unpicked trees, appalling garbage management, or lack of it, and I don’t give a damn attitude… or… is this your little protest over the city’s one small garbage can pickup policy?
