DRCA Wildlife and Human Cohabitation Committee Update
We, as a community, share a responsibility to protect ourselves, our neighbours, as well as local wildlife. Tragically, a family of four bears were euthanized after becoming used to feeding on food in neighbourhood garbage and compost bins. Additionally, a bear family was relocated earlier in the fall for the same reason.
Real world experience points to garbage (including compost) as the most significant contributor to human-bear conflicts and supports a strategy of reducing bear access to garbage. In fact, it has been documented that putting garbage and compost out only on the morning of pick up cuts the chances of a bear visit from 70% to 2%! Garbage and compost should be stored securely until it is disposed of.
Please do your part to ensure your bins are not outside. We suggest using the final winter months to organize your garage to make space for your black, blue, and green bins. We urge everyone to put bins out after 5:00 am on the morning of pick up from April 1 to October 31, when bears are the most active. These bins are a potential safety risk to all when they are out as they encourage local wildlife to scour them for food. If we limit the amount of time that the bins are outside, it will be much better for our local wildlife and therefore our community.
Don’t like the smell from bins? Consider one of the many companies in Calgary that offer bin cleaning services. Thank you!
