One of the oldest citizens of Port Coquitlam, they’ve always been here, everyone knows about them, everybody who has lived in PoCo has seen one at least once in their life, they are, of course, our friendly-neighbourhood bears.
They tend to be friendly with us most of the time, so why is that when they come over for a visit to our yards, to our schools, we all get petrified that someone is going to die? No, that is not going to happen. Why do we always get really enraged that they are going to destroy our perfectly decorated yards, that they will ruin our beautiful homes? We all tend to blame them for the destruction they cause to our community, but honestly, it’s our fault, definitely not theirs.
You see, I always hear my friends complaining about how a bear knocked down their garbage bin, or how they broke that beautiful chime of theirs. Well, if it’s such a problem for you, then leave! We are the one who took over the bear’s home, we are the ones who caused them to go to great lengths to steal food from us, to come onto our property as a last resort. THEY. WERE. HERE. FIRST.
We took over their land, we cut down their forests, we placed buildings on top of their precious earth. They are just roaming around what used to be their territory, which just happens to be our homes. We didn’t even ask those poor bears if we can take over.
Police are shooting bears claiming that they are unsafe to citizens, that they can injure us or destroy our structures, but I wonder, has anyone ever thought about possibly injuring (and killing) the bears? I mean, once again, they are they original population of our city.
So please, stop blaming the bears, they are a part of Port Coquitlam. And if you really have to blame someone for the terrible, horrible destruction they are causing, blame anyone, anyone but the bears.
Feature photo courtesy of: http://awesomebears.blogspot.ca
