All throughout Manitoba, we’re sharing the outdoors with wildlife, including black bears.

If you plan to head out into bear country, you should always be prepared and bring deterrents with you.

Those include noisemakers such as a whistle or air horn, a walking stick, and bear deterrent spray.

Janine Wilmot, a Human-Wildlife Coexistence Biologist with Manitoba Natural Resources and Northern Development shares how to handle a bear encounter.

“If you encounter a bear and it’s not aware of your presence, you can simply back down the trail the way you came and just avoid that encounter with the bear all together. If it’s a surprise encounter and the bear is aware of your presence, slowly back away and make sure you have your bear deterrent spray handy and ready to use. One thing you don’t want to do in an encounter with a bear is to start running because that can trigger an instinctive chase response in the bear.”  

Wilmot also recommends that dogs be kept on a leash.   In a bear encounter, unleashed dogs can often provoke attacks that transfer toward the person accompanying them.

For more on how to be Bear Aware, listen to Thompson Today at 12:40 and 5:10 this afternoon.