WildSafeBC is celebrating the fourth Annual BC Goes Wild this September.
September is historically a month where human-bear conflicts are at their highest. BC Goes Wild coincides with this month to bring awareness to these issues while also promoting ways we can live, work, play and grow in wildlife country.
In Cumberland, WildSafeBC co-ordinator Cali Barton will be hosting BC Goes Wild Events on Friday, Sept. 13 through Sunday, Sept. 15.
These include:
Friday - Community Discovery Day at the Cumberland Rec Centre, 5-7:30 p.m. WildSafeBC will be there with its information booth, fun games/activities, tattoos and the chance to enter a prize draw!
Saturday - Bear spray demo, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. in the Village Park. Learn how to safely carry and use bear spray and try deploying inert spray (totally safe, no active ingredient). Free but pre-registration required, email cumberland@wildsafebc.com or call 250-897-8239.
Sunday - WildSafeBC will have a booth at the Cumberland Farmer’s Market at the Village Square, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Scavenger hunt/wildlife activity and enter the BCGWW prize draw.
For more information, check out the event posting on our Facebook page.
PHOTO CONTEST
The BC Goes Wild Photo Contest returns this year with three categories: WildSafe Wildlife, WildSafe Activities and WildSafe Rangers (for young photographers aged 13-17). WildSafeBC recognizes that taking photos of wildlife can sometimes put people and wildlife at risk. As such, WildSafeBC has developed a Photography Code of Ethics that are required to be followed when submitting photos. The intent is reduce negative impacts on wildlife that may interfere with their natural behaviours or may put people at risk if they are too close to their subjects.
Tag us through Instagram, Facebook and Twitter #wildsafebc and share with us how you live, work, play and grow in BC in manner that reduces conflict with wildlife and helps keep wildlife wild and your community safe. You may be featured in our #SaturdaySpotlight where we highlight innovative and practical ways people are #WildSafe. These activities can include:
• securing garbage and compost indoors until the morning of collection
• picking fruit prior to it being fully ripe and letting it ripen in a secure location
• using a properly installed electric fence to deter wildlife from accessing attractants
• keeping your pet on a leash
• carrying bear spray while running, hiking and biking in wildlife country
• freezing smelly items until the day of collection
• taking down bird feeders while bears and rodents are most active
• packing out attractants from parks and other wild places
We can all do our part in reducing conflict with wildlife which will help keep wildlife wild and our community safe. To learn more, contact your local WildSafeBC co-ordinator Cali Barton or visit www.wildsafebc.com.
WildSafeBC Village of Cumberland is grateful for the generous support the program receives
from its funders including The Village of Cumberland, the British Columbia Conservation Foundation and the BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. If you would like to support our work, there are many ways you can get involved. Donations are always appreciated.