British Columbia residents are inadvertantly bringing on the destruction of their Grizzlies and Black Bears through their errant garbage disposal habits.....The simple act of putting your garbage out the day of pick-up rather than the night before would do so much to minimize the habituation of bears to human refuse..........Bear sightings(not population increases) are up nearly 20% because of our lax and innappropriate behavior which causes bears to lose their fear of human settlement, ultimately reinforcing the known fact that a FED BEAR IS A DEAD BEAR,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.It is up to us to reduce the conflicts and subsequent mortalities by making a simple change in our weekly disposal routine

167th bear killed at B.C. trailer park

A black bear that was trapped at a Cultus Lake trailer park was the 167th bear to be killed by conservation officers in B.C. this year.

The 70 kilogram male was trapped following complaints it was regularly tipping over garbage cans at the Columbia Valley Road trailer park.

According to Conservation Officer Steve Jacobi, so far this year 163 black bears and four grizzlies have been destroyed province wide and in most case the bears are attracted by garbage left out by residents."It's not the bear's fault that it's come into contact with people and losing its fear and getting habituated. It's just that if people would put out their garbage on garbage day — the morning of — it would reduce a significant amount of our complaints," he said.

"After a period of time the bear gets pretty used to coming into this area and eventually gets very bold and starts coming around the daytime," said Jacobi.Once a bear gets used to humans it usually has to be put down, Jacobi says. Only 10 of the bears they've dealt with this year have been suitable for rehabilitation or relocation, he said.

Bear sightings in the Fraser Valley alone are up between 10 and 20 percent over last year, he said.