RWED plays wait-and-see on electric fences
Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (May 30/01) - The once perennial problem of black bears feeding at the dump seems to be a thing of the past thanks to an electric fence erected last year.
"Any night after supper, you could usually go down there and see two to four bears in the dump, but last year only two got in," says Bruce Underhay, sub-foreman for the dump's bailing facility.
Measuring approximately two kilometres in length, the fence was erected last July at a cost of $45,000. The fence is designed to give off pulsed charges at 10,000 volts of electricity, which would cause any animal (or person) touching it to jump back immediately.
Yet despite almost no incidents reported during the 2000 bear season, Renewable Resources officers are still being cautious about the fence.
According to Dean Cluff, regional biologist for the North Slave region, there are too many variables to consider in light of the relatively uneventful bear season at the dump last year.
"I'm expecting it (the fence) to work, but we just can't confirm that yet," Cluff said. "The jury's still out."
He cited last year's good berry season, lack of forest fires, and a possible die-off of bear cubs and sub-adults over the previous winter as additional factors that must be considered apart from the fence.
During the spring and summer months of 1999, bears were a constant nuisance both at the dump and around the city.
That year, berries were in short supply, and the Tibbitt Lake fire that burned the year before displaced many bears from their natural habitat.
Twenty-four bears were marked, captured and relocated from around the city in 1999, including the Ingraham Trail. Several bears feeding at the dump had to be put down.
Later that year, Renewable Resources approached the city about installing an electric fence to keep the bears from feeding there.
Cluff said the primary concern was to prevent bears from growing habituated to garbage and humans, which increases the chance for injury when encountering them. Cluff says another incentive was to keep humans away from the bears.
"I saw a father holding his child and showing the bear feeding," Cluff said.
"This could be a recipe for tragedy."
Even though it is unlikely that bears could get through the fence while it is electrified, Cluff said it must be closely monitored.
"An important factor is that the fence must be regularly maintained," Cluff said.
"Garbage collecting on the fence could short it out, and maybe some animals might get through the fence underneath it. So it has to be inspected for the integrity of the fence, and the city is aware of that."
