The only bears Philip Warburton wants inside his yard are made of plastic and the decorations sit inside his flower beds.
Otherwise, the Port Coquitlam resident does everything he can to prevent black bears from sniffing around his property and rooting through his garbage.
He picks his raspberries and peaches as soon as they are ripe, removes bird seed during bear season and locks up his trash and compost with a Critter Guard system that keeps bruins out.
"I truly believe that residents of the high bear prone areas [near parks and greenbelts] must do their part to keep their homes safe and as unattractive to bears as much as possible," he says.
The Safeway employee has been an advocate of bears for years, ever since he saw a bear cub on one of his walks at Minnekhada Regional Park and found out that it was orphaned; it climbed a tree to evade capture, was tranquillized and taken to Critter Care Wildlife Society, where it was rehabilitated and returned to the forest.
Warburton signed up to be a volunteer with Critter Care and has helped out at the Langley centre ever since.
"I realized that rehabilitation is the right thing to do but it's not always the best thing," Warburton says, and thus a bear advocate was born. He wanted to make sure he didn't attract bears to his yard so he bought a Critter Guard system and asked the city of PoCo to recommend them to other residents.
Critter Guard locks are now required in bear-prone areas north of Lougheed Highway and the area south of Lougheed Highway along the river that is bounded by Shaughnessy Street, Pitt River Road and Lougheed Highway unless garbage can be locked in a garage or shed.
While his Lincoln Park home has since been visited by bears - and one took a swipe at his garbage bin - Warburton believes it's best to be proactive and he has since relocated the compost and trash carts behind a tall fence. He would like to see other people do more to remove bear attractants and he thinks the city should implement garbage patrols before bear season gets underway to stop problems before they happen.
"If everyone does their part consistently and fully, bear incidents in those residential areas would disappear almost overnight," Warburton says.
Critter Guard locks are available from the city of Port Coquitlam for $75, including installation. Call 778-789-1854 or 604-992-5353.
