You’ve heard of a doggie door. But a bear door?
When North Vancouver’s Curt Scheewe had his fence knocked down by a bulky black bear, he got clever in finding a solution.
Scheewe said he is careful to keep his yard free of attractants, but his house is on a bear route and his fence has taken some punishment from bears barging through. In late September, Scheewe finished up a creative fix, installing a passing door for bears to give them access to the Seymour River.
It was a fun project – the door is light enough for a bear to push but too heavy for Scheewe’s large dog – but Scheewe didn’t have any expectations that bears would actually use it. He was pleasantly surprised, however, when he checked his security camera footage Sunday morning (Oct. 20) and saw a bear passing through the bear door.
“The bear went through it like he’d done it 1,000 times,” Scheewe said. “And I was shocked, because I wasn’t expecting that.”
Scheewe sent the video to his neighbours, who passed it along to the North Shore Black Bear Society.
Scheewe’s video has tracked thousands of views since a social media posting from the society on Monday, and they say this scenario shows there can be peaceful coexistence with animals.
“The highlights of this are that the resident has found a way to coexist [with the bear]. For us, it’s about peaceful coexistence,” said Holly Reisner, co-executive director of the society.
North Shore Black Bear Society became a non-profit in 1999 after 39 bears were killed on the North Shore. Formerly known as the North Shore Black Bear Network, the goals for the volunteer group include reducing the number of black bears killed and educating residents about best practices for coexisting with bears.
Reisner said the society has received almost 1,650 reports of bear activity throughout the North Shore this fiscal year, which is a high number.
“The fact that we’re getting more reports than we used to doesn’t necessarily indicate that there are more bears, [but] it may indicate that our outreach has increased,” Reisner said.
Bears are going through hyperphagia – a state they enter into during the fall months before hibernation – and trying to eat 20,000 calories per day to pack on body fat for winter. It also causes them to move around more, looking for food.
Now, Scheewe plans to build another bear door on the other side of his yard, and hopes to have it ready within the month.
“It’s a funny story, all my friends are in Alberta, and they’re laughing about it because they don’t ever see bears there,” Scheewe said. “It’s pretty funny how everybody’s responded, and my family’s having a great time with it.”
Abby Luciano is a freelance writer at the North Shore News who resides in Surrey. She can be reached at [email protected].
