RAPP stats on bear sightings show fall glut of bears yet to come despite recent lull in Rossland-Trail area

The graphs below, assembled from BearAware’s provincial facebook page, show 2011 (red) and 2012 (green) statistics for black bear sightings in various parts of BC, and all regions taken together.

Hover your mouse over a graph to see to which region the graph corresponds.

Note that these statistics are based on reports made to the RAPP (report all poachers and polluters) hotline. Also, in some regions the numbers are small, so it is difficult to make conclusive claims about whether there are significantly more or fewer sightings this year relative to last.

Nevertheless, as a whole it seems that there have been fewer bear sightings in recent weeks in BC as a whole, and in the Rossland-Trail area in particular.

Most areas show a mid-summer lull in bear sightings followed by a resurgence in the fall as the bears’ food needs grow, availability in the wild diminishes, and fruit trees in town begin to produce.