These are B.C.'s deadliest communities for black bears

A black bear is seen in North Vancouver in this undated image. (Shutterstock)

Prince George is the place in B.C. where the most black bears were killed by conservation officers last year, according to an animal rights organization that tracks the numbers for each community annually.

According to The Fur-Bearers, there were 500 bears killed in the province in 2022 – a decrease from 2021's total of 581. The organization has been tracking this data since 2015 as part of its efforts to decrease the number of deaths. The highest number they have recorded was 632 in 2019 and the lowest was 415 in 2018.

"Black bears are often killed when they begin accessing garbage and spend time in human-dense areas seeking unnatural food sources from unsecured attractants,” Aaron Hofman, The Fur-Bearers' director of advocacy, says in a statement.

“By identifying communities where bears are killed with greater frequency, questions about systemic issues can be asked, and the killing can end.”

This year, the organization released a list of the eight deadliest communities because there were ties for the fourth and fifth spots. These eight places, according to the charity, account for 25 per cent of all black bear killings in the province.

Prince George topped the list for the second year in a row, with 32 bears killed in 2022 compared to 36 in 2021.

Three locations in the Kootenays appeared on the list this year: Nelson with 21, Castlegar with 14, and Revelstoke with 12. None of these places were on the list in 2021.

Twelve bears were also killed in Okanagan Falls and West Kelowna, respectively. On Vancouver Island, Nanaimo and Port Alberni each saw 10 bears killed.

The advocacy group notes that the bears were not necessarily killed within municipal boundaries, but says local governments have an important role to play in helping minimize human-bear encounters and preventing bears from getting habituated to human food.

“Wildlife is typically seen as a provincial responsibility, but provincial officers cannot respond to every potential attractant issue like unsecured garbage, or every incident of wildlife feeding," Hofman says in the media release.

"Municipalities need to take leadership and implement measures to manage attractants including garbage, bird feeders, fruit trees, and wildlife feeding. These efforts will help protect people and wildlife.”