Staying vigilant: On the lookout for the Northwood Bear

The Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) has received multiple reports of bear activity in the Northwood area in Thunder Bay, Ont. over the past few weeks.

These reports—received daily on the Bear Wise reporting line—have found that the bear in question appears to be a large, full-size adult black bear. It also believes the same bear was reported in several of these calls.

While officials have said the bear does not pose an immediate threat to residents, the ministry is working on dealing with it.

As of last Friday, the MNR has set up two non-lethal, live capture traps designed to capture the bear safely. 

It has also provided ongoing education and outreach, including bear safety information on social media and a bulletin to local media.

The MNR gave the following recommendations when encountering a black bear:

• Stop. Do not panic. Remain calm. 
• Slowly back away while keeping the bear in sight and wait for it to leave. 
• If the bear does not leave, throw objects, wave your arms and make noise with a whistle, air horn or yelling. 
• Get inside a building or vehicle, if you are nearby, as a precaution. 
• Drop any food you may be carrying and slowly move away.  
• Leave a bear alone if it is in a tree. The bear will come down when it feels safe. 
• Do not run, climb a tree or swim, kneel or make direct eye contact.
• Never approach the bear to get a better look or attempt to feed a bear.
• If a bear attacks, use bear spray and immediately leave the area or fight back with everything you have and do not play dead unless you are sure you are being attacked by a mother bear defending her cubs.

In my and my neighbours' yard

Dominic Pasqualino, the city councillor for the Northwood Ward in Thunder Bay, is looking into the sightings after seeing numerous videos posted from throughout Northwood Park on Facebook. He said he has even seen the bear stopping in his own and his neighbours' yards.

"It looks like a big healthy bear," said Pasqualino. "Unfortunately, we haven't been able to trap it. At least I heard that the police had followed it at some point, but really, there is little for the police to do. I was happy to hear that the MNR had put out some traps."

However, he said the bear doesn't seem too interested in the MNR's trap, likely because there's a buffet of garbage, fall-time crops and apples that are ripe for the taking.

"I would recommend that everybody in Northwood try to enclose their garbage and I would refrain from leaving pet food out and also, you know, dumping apples in or by the river or anything like that," said Pasqualino. "If you had to dump apples, dump them far away from Northwood."

The MNR agreed that bears are less likely to enter a live trap when they have access to easily obtainable foods.

"MNR asks for your assistance in storing garbage in containers with tight-fitting lids, inside a garage or other area where bears cannot access it and not placing at the curb until the morning of pick-up," said the MNR in a written statement. "You can also help by taking down birdfeeders and removing all ripe and fallen fruit from fruit trees."

Pasqualino said he hopes the bear situation will be resolved soon.

"I've worked in the bush for many years and usually when a bear sees somebody, they run away and it is troubling that it seems to be used to people," said Pasqualino. "So I don't know what the solution is … hopefully we can find something that's safe for the bear and safe for the people."

For more information on removing bear attractants, the ministry recommends residents look on its website or call the Bear Wise reporting line at 1-866-514-2327 or the hearing impaired (TTY) line at 1-705-945-7641.

If a bear poses an immediate threat to public safety by exhibiting threatening or aggressive behaviour, call 911 or the local police at (807) 684-1200.