It seems bears around the world in northern climes are awakening from their winter hibernation as much as a month earlier than normal.
The Montreal Ecomuseum reports that its two black bears emerged from hibernation yesterday and wandered around in the snow.
The zoo operation on the western tip of Montreal Island, said the earliest the bears have ever emerged from hibernation was February 28.
A spokesperson said it was likely the fairly mild winter that brought them out of hibernation.
A report from Helsinki said the two bears at that zoo awoke from their hibernation there, much earlier. The Telegraph news report was filed on February 9th, again much earlier than is typical. Staff there also believe a mild winter is the reason.
While bears awakening early at zoos, does not pose a problem for them, it’s much different for bears in the wild.
Biologists in the west coast province of British Columbia, are seeing bears waking early there.
They say this poses a problem as they might not find enough food at this early time of the year when there is still much snow on the ground, and plants have not emerged.
Quoted by CBC, Frank Ritcey, a provincial coordinator of WildSafeBC, says the conservation service has already had 130 calls about bears throughout the province.
He told a CBC radio host that the bears have an added problem in that they began hibernation a bit hungrier than normal due to hot dry summer last year in the province.
Although the exact causes for bears waking isn’t fully understood, Ritchey says in part it has to with stored fat. The bears rely on stored fat during hibernation, and when they run out of fat, they wake up.
He says problems occur when hungry bears can’t find food in the wild, they come into nearby towns rooting through garbage bins for food.
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