TimWardCam, 2 months ago

@msquebanh We've been on trails like that. Quite often we manage to stop thinking about bears.

"I don't know why you tourists keep wittering on about bears" said our relative on the Island. "We never see them."

"Oh, apart from the one that got into our kitchen last week and ate the birthday cake, of course."

msquebanh, 2 months ago

@TimWardCam I'm bear & cougar aware - the latter I'm more wary of when out in pure wilderness because they're harder to detect. I can almost always tell if there's a bear in area & don't do irresponsible stuff. Bears I've seen while out hiking tend to run away & avoid humans. Had some scarier encounters North Island where some starving bears tried clawing into our truck.

violetmadder, 2 months ago

@msquebanh @TimWardCam

Never seen either, just tracks and poo.

My parents have seen both a number of times though.

msquebanh, 2 months ago

@violetmadder @TimWardCam There's increases of bear & cougar sightings & encounters because greedy humans are killing off more of their natural habitats here. On an island, there's not many other places for them to live when clearcut logging continues to decimate wildlife habitats & ecosystems. I feel sick for the wildlife because too many greedy humans don't care about them or nature or the environment.

TimWardCam, 2 months ago

@violetmadder @msquebanh Last time we saw a pile of bear poo was on mainland BC.

Underneath a sign saying "bears have been seen along this trail in the last 0 [written in] days".

Yeah, right. So that bear poo had been put there by the rangers to discourage people from passing that sign. But it worked on us, we turned around.

msquebanh, 2 months ago

@TimWardCam @violetmadder I like to poke at & examine bear poop (and other wildlife poop) - to see what they've been eating. I don't stick around too long if it's fresh bear poop. I'm small enough to be a bear snack & I can't run away since I'm unable to run.

violetmadder, 2 months ago

@msquebanh @TimWardCam

You're farther north than me, too. We only have black bears here, not brown.

msquebanh, 2 months ago

@violetmadder @TimWardCam We only have black bears on most of the island. Only parts of island where there are grizzlies is the far North Island. They made way over from mainland. Extremely rare to see them while you hike. People pay to go on remote tours to view grizzlies in very isolated areas.