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After a feeding frenzy from an unwanted visitor, a woman in central Newfoundland is left counting her sole surviving chicken.
Roni Dyke, who lives in the town of Eastport bordering Terra Nova National Park, has had egg-laying chickens for the last seven years, but this past week that number was reduced to just one bird and eight chicks because of a bear’s nocturnal visits to her chicken coop.
“Out of 17, I’m left with one chicken today and she’s so flipped out, just scared, whatever, she’s not even laying,” she told CBC Radio’s On the Go.
In total, the unwanted visitor ate approximately 50 chickens between her and her neighbours over just a few days. Initially, she said the bear ate most of her neighbour’s chickens before making his way to her property.
“Mr. Bear decides he’s coming into the coop,” she said. “He takes the window out and he crawls in and has a heyday.”
Eventually she moved her remaining chickens to the separate area where she’s raising chicks.
“My husband set it up like Fort Knox. He had metal bars … It was nailed down and for two nights, Mr. Bear could not get in at my chickens.”
A trap was also installed a few feet from her coop but the bear didn’t fall for it, she said. Finally, the animal was trapped at her neighbour’s property and taken away — only for another bear to turn up on her street, eating garbage. She added another trap has been set up.
Dyke says her husband fortified their chicken coop like ‘Fort Knox.’ (Submitted by Roni Dyke)
On top of losing her chickens, she said the bear damaged the coop but her husband is handy and will be able to fix it up. For now her remaining chicks are now living in her husband’s “man cave.”
“If things don’t improve, I’m going to have to take over the man cave and turn it into a chicken coop,” said Dyke.
Bear warnings in park
Terra Nova National Park has issued warnings bears are now active in the area.
Resource conservation manager Laura Siegwart Collier said hibernation ends in April, and in recent weeks the park has received several bear sightings.
“It absolutely is typical behaviour at this time of year. They’re very much in search of food,” she told CBC Radio’s Newfoundland Morning.
“We’re seeing them on roadsides because they’re feeding on roadside plants, so things like dandelions, clovers and grasses.”
Dyke says the first bear in the area was caught by officials, only for another one to be spotted. (Submitted by Roni Dyke)
Not speaking to Dyke’s situation, Siegwart Collier said the best way to exist with bears is to prevent encounters, like not getting close to the animals.
“We recommend a minimum distance of 100 metres between you and a black bear, which is quite far,” said Siegwart Collier.
When it comes to camping, she advised people to secure their food, put away garbage, keep pets on leashes and not leave pet food out.
Encounters are also dangerous to the bears because they can get more comfortable with human proximity and can lead to what people call “problem bears.”
“In reality it’s because of some of the actions that we’re taking that kind of contribute to that,” said Siegwart Collier.
On Friday the province’s department of forestry, agriculture and lands sent out a statement, warning a black bear had been spotted near Eastport and St. Chad’s.
It said conservation officers are monitoring it while also asking residents to take precautions, like storing garbage properly.
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