Currently there are between 75,000 and 100,000 black bears living in Ontario’s forests. The province has the second largest black bear population in Canada, behind British Columbia and the third largest in North America. Ontario residents have coexisted with their ursine counterparts for hundreds of years but it has been an extremely complicated and at times sordid relationship. For example, the childhood storybook character, Winnie-the-Pooh created by A.A. Milne, was inspired by a black bear named Winnipeg that was captured near Lake Superior in 1914 before being transported across the Atlantic for exhibition in the London Zoo. Not exactly the feel good story that is conveyed in the pages of Winnie-the-Pooh.
Yet, the origin of “Pooh-Bear” is just one instance of how complex the relationship has been between people and black bears. I decided to do an environmental history of Ontario’s Ursus americanus residents because of my long fascination with the provincial government’s decision in 1999 to repeal the spring bear hunt and the debate that followed. The cancellation was not the result of an extended and careful study of the spring bear hunt by government wildlife managers. It was made in response to claims made by a conglomerate of animal welfare groups, the so-called “Bear Alliance,” that the hunt was both inhumane and led to increased cub orphaning, claims that the government obviously feared were striking a chord with voters in southern Ontario. No government since has reintroduced the hunt, and northern Ontario communities have lived with the economic and environmental consequences.
While this is a more recent episode in the history of black bears in Ontario it speaks to the way perceptions of nature affect the making of hunting and wildlife management policy, and how those policies in turn have material consequences, some anticipated and others not. My project seeks to explore the way that scientific and non-scientific perceptions of bears interacted and competed in the development of wildlife management policies and hunting regulations in Ontario. Moreover, what really intrigues me is how different groups such as hunters, biologists, policymakers, naturalists, and the lay public have viewed the province’s bears and how and why these perspectives have changed over the years. From 1942 to 1961, Ontario’s black bear was subjected to a bounty system that was similar to the one applied to the province’s wolves. The majority of residents saw the animal as vermin and gladly took up arms to collect the $5 and $10 bounty on cubs and adult bears respectively. In 1961 the bounty was rescinded and the bear was designated as a game animal. However, a bag limit was not introduced and neither were closed seasons; residents simply had to buy licenses. By the 1980s, Ontario finally introduced more rigid management practices with the introduction of limited seasons (spring and fall) and limited kills. This brief snapshot reveals how human perceptions have changed the bear from pest to quasi-game to bona fide trophy animal.
Black bears do not play a pertinent role in our ecosystem. We choose to coexist with them because they feed our mind, body, and soul. We name our airlines and our sports teams after them; they drive our imagination. Canada’s preeminent bear expert, Stephen Herrero has said that “the decisions we make about how we will manage bears depend on our attitudes and values related to bears.” My study will chart the history of Ontario’s relationship with its bears in the hope that it may help shape the values guiding future policy.
Michael Commito
Latest posts by Michael Commito (see all)
- Rhizomes: An Interview with Mike Commito - February 26, 2018
- Lecture: History of the Ontario Spring Bear Hunt - July 11, 2014
- New Scholars Committee is Recruiting - May 15, 2012
- The History of People and Black Bears in Ontario - May 14, 2012
Wondering what is the current bear situation in Lake Superior provincial park?? We are planning a backpacking trip with children. Tx.
Hi Lisa, I can’t comment on the current situation in Lake Superior PP but I’m sure you can touch base with the park staff there via email or telephone to get an idea on what the bear situation has been like so far this year. It’s worth checking into the Bear Wise section on the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry website, if you haven’t done so already, as they will have some good tips and advice for staying safe in bear country. I think the main thing when camping in areas where bears are known to reside is to limit the attractants around your site, ie. properly disposing of your garbage, keeping food in bear proof containers, and keeping containers with food in them out of reach of bears. When I went camping in Algonquin two years ago we cleared our site each night before going to bed by putting any containers with food in our vehicle so they were out of reach. It might seem tedious but we were notified there had been a bear in the area so a little precaution will go along way to keeping your family, belongings and, of course, the bears, safe.
It would be nice to find some source material from this article for a project I’m doing. It has allot of interesting material.
If you are not aware, there have been numerous sightings of a bear(s) in Lambton and now approaching Chatham Kent in Southern Ontario. Sightings started mid June and most recent was today just north of Wallaceburg. Interesting in that Black Bears have not been in this area for many decades. It will be something to see how if established they affect the already fragmented and fragile ecosystem here.