It is important to be BearSmart when you’re spending time outdoors.  Human activities, like camping have become more frequent in bear territory.  As a result, bear habitats have become more fragments and encounters between bears and humans more common.

What you should know about Alberta bears:

  • In the spring, summer and fall bears need to eat
    enough to survive winter, when they spend between
    four and six months in their dens.
  • Bears can consume up to 25,000 calories a day.
    Most of their diet is actually low in calories—the
    natural diet of a bear is 85 to 90 per cent plants and
    berries and 10 to 15 per cent insects and mammals.
    This means they must eat a lot, and often.
  • Bears use their intelligence, curiosity and keen
    sense of smell to seek out new food sources.
  • Bears will overcome their natural wariness of people
    to take advantage of the easy meals we provide
    when we carelessly store our food, garbage
    or pet food. These are “human-habituated” bears.
  • Bears have good memories. They remember where
    to access food and how. In human-use places they
    can apply these skills to get food from fruit trees,
    containers, vehicles or buildings.
  • Human food can be irresistible to bears. Bears that
    are rewarded with food when they access human-use places can become “food-conditioned.”

 

For more information on Alberta’s BearSmart Program, please visit: Alberta BearSmart Program