If you’re hearing more stories about people encountering bears, it’s because people are encountering more bears.
Manitoba Conservation says it typically gets about 1,500 reports of bear interactions a season, but this year they’ve already had about a thousand.
What Conservation Officers believe could be happening, in some cases, is an increase in new campers in the backcountry who are not familiar with bear-proofing their sites by keeping food and garbage stowed away and out-of-reach. The same rules apply to homeowners as well.
If you happen to cross paths with a black bear, Manitoba Conservation says remain calm and slowly back away. They say one of the last things you should do is turn and run, which could tempt the animal to give chase.
