Manitoba man spots black bear eating fruit in yard

A Manitoba man feels he has been seeing more bears near his home this year than before.

Patrick Pushor lives in Seven Sisters Falls and has caught on camera a black bear wandering onto his property and enjoying a snack from the fruit bushes.

"We've got just over eight acres here, gardens, but lots of fruit trees as well, and a raspberry u-pick. So lots of fruits for all of the forest critters," said Pushor.

He dealt with a few bears last year, but said that was mainly due to not composting properly.

"This year, we're a lot smarter, but yet, we see more bears. What seems notable is that the fruit was a little bit later this year."

Other than being caught on camera, he said there haven't been any face-to-face encounters between bears and his family.

He noted his neighbours have also seen bears and even had to call conservation as a precaution.

"That's one of the largest concerns, right? Is that they get habituated to what we sound like, or what we smell like, and then they won't leave."

It's not the only bear interaction that CTV News Winnipeg has been made aware of. A viewer provided a video of a mother black bear and two cubs running through Wasagaming Campground during the last weekend of July.

Despite the perceived notion that there may be more bear encounters, stats from the province say otherwise.

A provincial spokesperson said there have been 744 reports of bear encounters between Jan. 1 and July 30, according to numbers from conservation officers.

Looking at the same timeframe dating back to 2021, there were more encounters in both 2022 and 2021 – 766 and 1,698 respectively.

In 2023, there were only 465 encounters, with the province calling it a very quiet bear season.

The spokesperson said conservation officers will respond to bear concerns depending on where the bear was seen or if there is a chance for conflicts.