A mother bear has died after it was struck by a car in Sooke on Thursday, according to the Conservation Officer Service (COS) – a provincial body focused on natural resource law enforcement and human-wildlife conflict prevention.
The incident, which occurred at approximately 11 p.m. on West Sooke Road, orphaned three cubs.
“It's horrific,” said Mollie Cameron, the president of Sooke-based outdoor education group Wild Wise. “This is the result of bears having consistent access to unsecured attractants and being drawn closer to neighbourhoods and roadways."
Around this time every year, bears eat as much as possible – often up to 20,000 calories per day – to prepare for hibernation. To meet this caloric quota, Cameron says the now deceased sow and her kids had been venturing into town for weeks in search of quick, easy meals – namely, garbage.
This is a common occurrence, according to the COS, which says that, since Oct. 1, people have reported three black bear sightings in Metchosin, 21 in Colwood and 16 in Langford.
Bears that venture into towns can become habituated, which increases the chances that the animals will encounter residents.
Unfortunately, human-bear friction often results in euthanasia. In July, Black Press reported that, in 2023 alone, the B.C. Conservation Officer Service killed 603 bears, many of which ventured into towns and neighbourhoods for a quick, easy meal.
In order to prevent occurrences like these, Wild Wise recommends removing bird feeders, cleaning barbecues and outdoor areas of food, feeding pets indoors, picking fruit while it's ripe to prevent windfall, securing livestock and storing garbage and compost in sealed containers away from places bears can access them.
“It only takes one house leaving garbage out to draw bears into a neighbourhood,” said Cameron, who hopes residents will make more of an effort to secure attractants. “It's not that hard.”
As for the cubs' future, the COS says it attended the scene on Friday morning, where it found no sign of the leaderless youngins. It added that it is working with wildlife biologists from the Ministry of Water, Lands and Resource Stewardship to capture the creatures, which it hopes to transport to the North Island Wildlife Recovery Centre – a non-profit that cares for ill, injured and orphaned wildlife.
The public is asked to report cub sightings to the COS at 1-877-952-7277.
