Be bear smart

Be bear smart

Residents in areas with wildlife visitors, including bears, are asked to follow the Bear Smart best practices, especially between April and November when bears are active.

If there is a public safety risk represented by concerning active bear activity and/or under the advice of Alberta Fish and Wildlife, the City of Calgary may temporarily designate a given community or area as a “wildlife affected” area. When this designation is in effect all residents in the area are required to follow the special requirements for residential waste storage and collection.  

We encourage all residents in communities with a history of bear visitors to continuously practice the Bear Smart best practices. Let's continue working together to reduce the risk of attracting wildlife into our residential areas.

Calgary Communities with known bear visitors:

  • Discovery Ridge
  • Lakeview
  • Woodbine
  • Woodlands
  • Springbank Hill
  • Oakridge
  • Bayview
  • Palliser
  • Pump Hill
  • Eagle Ridge
  • Cedarbrae

Don’t invite bears over for a midnight snack.

Bears and other wildlife will come into our communities looking for easy sources of food. Residential collection carts, fruit trees, bird feeders and other human-related food sources are strong attractants. Once a bear receives a food reward it can lose its natural wariness of humans. Food-conditioned bears can pose a serious safety risk in communities and may need to be trapped and relocated or even euthanized.

Prevent this from happening by securing all food attractants and by managing your waste properly.

Here are some things you can do:

Do

  • Set your carts out no earlier than 5 a.m. and no later than 7 a.m. on collection day.
  • Put away your carts after collection, no later than 7 p.m.
  • Freeze food waste prior to putting it out in the green cart on your collection day. 
  • Clean the carts periodically to reduce odours.
  • Store your carts inside a garage or other secure enclosure.

Note: Secure storage options are available offering an alternative to limited garage space. These enclosures can be purchased or built. An example of such is found here: https://haulall.com/hid-a-cart/

Don't

  • Don't put your carts out overnight.
  • We kindly ask our residents to work with their neighbors if their schedule doesn't allow them to put out their carts between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. on their collection day.
  • Let's all do our part to keep our community safe and avoid attracting bears and other wildlife.

 

 

 

garbage

Store your carts inside an enclosure like a shed or garage to prevent animals from getting into your bins

It's important to remember that overnight cart set out has been identified as a significant attractant of bears and other wildlife. That's why we recommend only putting out your carts the morning of collection, this is standard practice in many municipalities that have a history of bear-human conflicts.

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