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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGoderich Signal Star, 2017-02-01, Page 22 Signal Star • Wednesday, February 1, 2017 Shaun Gregory Huron County animal control officer, Bob Trick answers questions for the media about bears last week, just outside the Goderich Council chambers. Bear encounter tips • Stop. Don't panic. Stay calm. •Don't corner a bear: make sure it h s a clear escape route. • Always watch the bear and slowly back away until it's out of sight. • If you're near a building or vehicle, get inside. • Leave the area if you're berry -picking; hiking, camping, jogging or cycling. •If you're with others, stay together and act as a group. • If the bear does not get closer to you, slowly back away, talk- ing to the bear in a quiet, monotone voice. • Do not scream, turn your back on the bear, run, kneel down, make direct eye contact, climb a tree, try to swim away. PARK THEATRE 30.' GODERICH 524-7811 Fri &Sat 8:00 Sun - Thur 7:30`Vkillence 1-/ ,. -Pi i Feb. 03 - 09 I\I\I\\I • Fri & Sat 8:00 Sun - Thur 7:30 language May ci) www.movielinks.ca or d s'a^ce/1-800-265-3438 Huron County: Rise in bear sightings could give our region paws Shaun Gregory, Randy Richmond Postmedia Network Bears aren't coming to Southwestern Ontario just for a dine and dash anymore. Instead, they appear to be settling in for longer. But have no fear — the black bears aren't going to invade in large numbers. Huron County, north of London, has experienced its most bear sightings in decades — and those suggest the bears are wintering in the region, the county's animal con- trol officer, Bob Trick, says. It's worth nothing the bears will wake up hungry in the spring, he said. "We have to prepare ourselves to have bears hibernating every year," said Trick, who alerted Goderich town council to the issue days ago. In 2014, there were about 15 bear sightings in Huron County, he said. In 2015 there were few, but in 2016 Trick received 30 reports of bears, including some with vid- eos and photographs. He began investigating in October, and near the trail of the Maitland River Valley found three piles of bear scat, with berries, that backed up claims of sightings. The late sighting sug- gests the bear was going to spend the winter in the area, Trick said. "Other years, we figure they came and went back north." ii We have to prepare ourselves to have bears hibernating every year," said Huron County animal control officer, Bob Trick, who alerted Goderich town council to the issue days ago. Trick noted that bears had been sighted, and unfortunately struck and killed by vehicles near Strathroy and in Welling- ton County. Bears were also spotted near Strathroy and in Lambton, Wellington and Middlesex counties in the summer of 2016. The last bear sighting in London was in April2010, when police shot and killed one that had wan- dered into west London, just south of Oxford Street, behind the Child Parent Resource Institute (CPRI) on Sanitorium Road. Bears need a Large food source in late summer and fall to put on weight and hibernate for the winter, and dry conditions farther north might have reduced the berry supply this year, Trick said. That's something home- owners handling food and garbage outside might have to keep more in mind if bears start to hang around. "If you have food, they will be there," he said. But there's little chance of a bear invasion into southern regions of Ontario, said Ministry of Natural Resources spokes- person Jolanta Kowalski. The province has plenty of advice for humans deal- ing with bears and notes on a website: "Bears usually avoid humans. But they are attracted into urban and rural areas to get food. They will topple bird feed- ers, ransack barbecues, raid garbage cans and even try to enter build- ings. If they learn that they can find food where peo- ple live, bears will return again and again." Ooderich Little Theatre presents, by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service Inc., THE V511301 tLhinslraeb SLakata and information at 6191524-6262 or t s ivery.o Toez friend bays a oospl•ta7y white yaiatlig. Por 140•00o. %Met the •a'.& Els 7'011 Mad out la'at!' -a wry at lisrooseRs. by Yaaaina Reza featuring Ben Scholten, Shawn Van Osch and win Kernchan sasavat 9e � ti, at8pm If you birn yourself, run cool water. over the wound for several minutes.