Maria Canton
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 27/99) - Six black bears have been destroyed since last week's Edzo forest fire, says RWED's Dogrib area superintendent for the North Slave region.

Gord Bohnet says the bears have been entering the community and the dump since the fire and within eight days they have had to kill six of them.

"I think it's a combination of circumstances that are drawing the bears into Edzo," says Bohnet.

"They were probably trying to get out of the smoke and hotspots and now there aren't too many berries left for them to eat."

Two bears were in the community of Edzo, two were at the dump, one was reported near the dump and one was in the community of Rae.

"They can smell the smells of the community and of the dump and they move towards that," he says.

"Once they start bothering residents and become conditioned to food and humans they won't go away."

The location of Edzo, on a point of land surrounded by Great Slave Lake, also contributes to the large number of bears culminating in one place at one time, says RWED biologist Dean Cluff.

"Although the fire itself was relatively small, the location of it plays a part in what is happening with the bears," he says.

"Edzo is on a point of land and the bears essentially become trapped and cornered with no where to go."

Since the point of land happens to consist of humans and a dump, the bears are naturally attracted towards it, searching for food.

"Once a bear becomes used to handouts and humans and begins associating humans with food, it's very difficult to get them to go away," he says.

Black bears have also been a problem with the Yellowknife dump this summer and both Bohnet and Cluff say recent mild winters are contributing to an increase in the bear population.

"Yellowknife has had problems with dump bears all summer," said Cluff.

"Fairly mild winters mean a greater survival of cubs. As far as putting them down, the black bear population tends to rebound well from declines."

At least two bears have been put down this summer after they became a nuisance at the Yellowknife dump.

RWED officials say they have set up bear traps around Edzo, but have not been successful in attracting the bears into the traps.

If trapped, they would be relocated to a different area, most likely on the other side of the burn area.

Bohnet says last week's forest fire, that saw the evacuation of Edzo, is getting safer all of the time.

"Crews are extending the black line around the perimeter of the fire to 1,000 feet in," he says.

"They are finding some hotspots, but the deeper we make the extension the closer we get to making the area 100 per cent safe."