You glance out your kitchen window and there is a bear in your yard. What should you do? Quick, make sure that all children and pets are inside. What next?

It's probably a black bear. Grizzlies rarely come close to homes near town and prefer to stay in remote wilderness.

Black bears are very common in northern BC, both in remote areas and close to town. Wherever you live, you are probably within the home range of a black bear. The bear may visit your yard on a regular basis, once every month or two or maybe only once or twice a year.

Bears walk a regular circuit the length of their home territory. You may never see the bear. They often visit at night and are always very quiet. If you have a large dog in the yard, that may discourage a bear. But if the dog comes in the house at night or sleeps soundly, the bear will figure that out. A bear is as intelligent as your dog.

What makes a bear come back to your yard? Food. The bear may find natural foods like berries or grasses on your property or it may remember finding human or pet food. A bear follows its nose and can smell food three miles away. Once a bear has found a food source, it will remember and revisit the site regularly for years, even long after the original food is gone. Sometimes a bear will walk through your property to get to the nice smells in a neighbour's yard, so this can be a community problem.