Trail open again as bear eludes tracking efforts

Louise Dickson
Times Colonist
July 15, 2005

B.C. Parks rangers have reopened a 10-kilometre section of the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail despite their failure to capture a bear that had been tearing into backpacks at Bear Beach.

"There's been no sign of the bear down there for the past three days," area superviser Don McLaren said Thursday. "He eats every day, so he's obviously feeding on his normal food. Hopefully, the problem has gone away."

McLaren said he was not at all nervous about his decision to reopen the trail.

"We've gone over and above what we're required to do, according to our bear plan, and we'll monitor the situation for a couple of days," he said. "You have to remember, this bear wasn't aggressive toward people, but it was aggressive toward food. And we'll continue to monitor that area in particular and the whole trail as well."

The south end of the trail, west of China Beach, was closed last week when conservation officers began to worry that the bear would go after hikers for the food in their packs.

The animal became a problem about a month ago around Bear Beach. Although this bear hasn't attacked anybody, hikers have felt frightened and uncomfortable. The animal has torn open packs close to where people were sitting and didn't leave when they tried to scare it.

Conservation officer Peter Pauwels said the bear had lost his fear of people and was starting to associate people with food. He worried that the animal would eventually try to physically separate people from their packs. The plan was to capture the bear and put it down because it was not a candidate for relocation.

Park rangers are going to be spending a little more time on the trail than they usually do for the next couple of days, said McLaren.

The rangers will pay particular attention to the area around Bear Beach because of the size of the beach and the numbers of hikers who camp there. The beach is prime bear habitat.

Rangers will be checking to make sure hikers are storing their food and toiletries properly. Hikers should store these items in sealed containers in their packs.

"Even if you take cans in, make sure you wash them out and pack them in your bag in sealed containers," said McLaren. "Toothpaste can also attract bears. Anything they can smell, anything that's different from the norm, I think to an animal will be interesting."

Little things can cause big problems, said the park ranger.

For example, it's not a good idea to pour bacon fat into a fire and put the fire out right away before the fat has burned off.