Colleen Point was shocked to look out into her backyard on near Airport Road to witness not one, but three bears in their North Bay backyard.
Sightings of the large mammals have increased this summer and early fall potentially even matching deer sightings in city limits.
"There have been increased bear sightings in the city of North Bay and surrounding areas in 2024," stated Sarah Fig from the Media Desk with the Ministry of Natural Resources.
"Of these reported incidents, the majority have involved items such as garbage, recycling, apple trees, and bird and/or deer feeders."
North Bay isn't the only community dealing with nuisance bears in city limits. Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) officials spoke recently at a Huntsville council meeting to address the same problem occurring 111 kilometres down Highway 11.
See related: Huntsville council may move to restrict food waste and require bear-proof bins
Micheline Mamone is the provincial coordinator for human-wildlife interactions at the MNR and oversees the Bear Wise program.
She told Huntsville Council that the reason for the increased bear sightings is a decrease in natural foods in the forest including an end to the summer berry season.
Mamone said bears have likely moved on to fall food sources like beechnuts and acorns. However, wild food scarcity can drive the bears into populated areas.
"When there is a lot of natural foods available, the number of reported bear sightings is lower," the MNR noted.
"When natural food sources are scarce, reported sightings are higher because black bears will look for alternative food sources, sometimes in urban or developed areas."
MNR officials add that bears usually avoid humans, but they are attracted to urban and rural areas to get food. Bears will be attracted to your neighbourhood by:
- strong food aromas
- the scent of garbage
- cooking smells
- ripe fruits and pet food left outside
They say the best way to prevent conflict with bears is to avoid attracting bears to the neighbourhood by eliminating attractants.
The MNR notes that the same bear can result in multiple sightings. To learn more about black bears, and how to report bear encounters, visit www.ontario.ca/bearwise.
