Brady Greenwood and Jonah Philip just don’t want to see any more black bears killed, so they are taking matters in to their own hands.
The two members from the Sooke Youth Council will be knocking on doors in the Whiffin Spit area on August 27 and talking to property owners about bear awareness.
They did the same thing in Sunriver not too long ago and Greenwood said, “the response was pretty good.”
“Debbie (Read) reached out to us and we hopped aboard,” said Philip.
Read is the coordinator for WildSafeBC in the CRD.
The two young men will be handing out pamphlets with all the information property owners need to have to help prevent human and bear interaction.
The problem is when bears become conditioned to searching for food in fruit trees or garbage cans, they become a nuisance and usually have to be destroyed because they cannot be rehabilitated to other areas.
Bears seem to cause the most problem and are the most numerous in the Sunriver, Whiffin Spit and Grant Road areas of Sooke.
So why would two young men off on summer holiday choose to knock on doors and inform people about bears?
“I got charged by a cub once on Whiffin Spit,” said Greenwood.
“There are bears on my road (Ella Road) quite a bit,” said Philip.
Neither wants to see them killed.
“They die for people’s mistakes,” said Greenwood.
An attractant at this time of the year is windfall — fruit on the ground. Whenever possible, fruit should be picked to prevent the type of conflict which will get bears killed.
There is always a need for more volunteers. If interested in helping spreading bear awareness in the Sooke area, call 250-642-6371.
