Officials responsible for public safety at Minnekhada Regional Park in Coquitlam are warning people not to hang around the park looking for bears.
Freda Schade, central area manager for Metro Vancouver Regional Parks, said the park will be closed in the evening once bear season starts in earnest, probably when blueberries are ripe in July, because of problems caused by people congregating by the dozens to watch and photograph bears.
"We do a lot to try and dissuade it," Schade said, noting that bear aware signage goes up once bears are in the area and pamphlets have been published to inform people about bears and to discourage people from bear watching.
But people are still putting themselves at risk, sometimes with children and dogs in tow, which could be a recipe for disaster.
"[The public] are doing all the things they should not be doing to be safe," Schade said.
Blueberry farmer Sid Kwantes confirmed bear watching has become a problem each summer, with cars parked along Oliver Road and families with kids even getting out to have a closer look at bears.
He also blames the attention for encouraging bear-watching.
"The media's responsible, too," he said. "We try to keep it on the quiet just so don't we don't get hoards of people looking for bears."
Another problem with bear watching is that it encourages the bruins to become accustomed to humans. When that happens, Coquitlam Bear Aware co-ordinator Drake Stephens said, it's hard to get rid of the bruins and if they start causing problems, they have to be shot.
