black bear repeatedly wandered through the picnic area at White Pine Beach<\/a> in late July, Metro Vancouver shut the entire beach down for a week.<\/p>\nVisitors had reportedly left food out, which the bear helped itself to, and when it refused to leave, officials stepped in.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bear refused to leave the area, so the beach was closed to the public,\u201d Metro Vancouver told Daily Hive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe closure remained in place for a week, and the area was reopened to the public on Aug. 3.\u201d<\/p>\n
The incident triggered a temporary food ban covering the beach and the surrounding Sasamat Lake area, including the floatwalk and loop trail.<\/p>\n
But starting Saturday, the food ban will officially be lifted.<\/p>\n
Visitors will be allowed to bring food back into the park, though Metro Vancouver is still urging everyone to be extra cautious and follow all posted signage.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
That said, don\u2019t dust off the barbecue just yet.<\/p>\n
Cooking will still be prohibited throughout the entire park until further notice, including at the concessions, which will only offer cold, pre-made options.<\/p>\n
\u201cOutdoor cooking is prohibited throughout the park to avoid attracting bears,\u201d the agency said.<\/p>\n
The idea is to eliminate strong smells and food attractants that could draw bears back into public spaces. It\u2019s part of a larger effort to keep both people and wildlife safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cMetro Vancouver has concerns that several bears in the area could become food conditioned,\u201d the agency said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen bears become \u2018food conditioned,\u2019 they can lose their fear of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
To help curb that behaviour, the park authority says it\u2019s stepping up its efforts on the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cStaff have put up additional signs about the bear activity and the food and cooking bans throughout the park,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPark staff are patrolling regularly and speaking with visitors to remind them of the food and cooking bans.\u201d<\/p>\n
The region is also working closely with the BC Conservation Officer Service and said the restrictions may continue to evolve depending on what\u2019s needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re heading to White Pine this weekend, bring your cold snacks, stay alert, and leave the portable grill at home,\u201d Metro Vancouver advised.<\/p>\n
The beach may be back open for food, but the bears are still watching.<\/p>\n
Want to stay on top of all things Vancouver? Follow us on X<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"White Pine Beach is once again welcoming picnickers after a temporary food ban prompted by bear activity. Metro…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-56440","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}