Thought of the Day - November 17 2021 - Jingle Bells

No, I am not referring to the holiday season I am talking about bear bells.

Due to COVID travel restrictions, many more people in urban Vancouver are coming off the paved pathways and venturing off into the great unknown. Well more accurately, to the well-marked trails in the woods.

And what do they take with them? A map, in case their cell phone dies? Some extra water, perhaps? Some warm clothes? A flashlight? Of course not, they take bear bells.

I was very pleasantly surprised when we started to hike the Sea-to-Summit trail near the Chief at Squamish (the one that leads up past the top of Shannon Falls to the Gondola) a few weeks ago. At the bottom of the trail, the friendly staff check your vaccine passports (as they are assured you will wish to travel down via the Sea to Sky gondola), and that you have applied for your backcountry pass (more to ensure the parking lot is not overloaded rather than the trail). They also give you a quick update on the trail conditions and . . . and, tell you not to use bear bells! You can leave your bells with them or, as I found out from other intrepid hikers, if you wasted even more money buying the deluxe-model bells (that have on-off switches) you should climb with them turned off!

Why you might ask? Well as people have known for years, bears are not stupid. And like many urban animals, they have started to adapt and to rely more and more on humans for food. They have figured out that bear bells mean humans, and humans might mean more food. The park staff let us know after correlating bear sightings with the use of bear bells, a clear pattern emerges: bear bells attract our urban black bears (I did not ask them if there may be another correlation that people who use bear bells around Vancouver are paranoid and therefore more likely to report sightings). I finally had confirmation of what I had suspected for years, and a note for the friendly neighbourhood blog to boot!

In short, if you are planning on taking a walk around Burnaby Lake, for example, please make sure to leave your bells at home. In the summer they attract bears and in the winter they do nothing but annoy others.

Cheers

Cliff