RRU grad helps turn scary bears into wary bears

NSERC support and RRU’s flexibility made journey easier Grizzly Head Portrait (above, left) is a 16 " x 24", acrylic on board by artist Robert Bateman, 2003. Reprinted with permission. Jay Honeyman (right, with Karelian bear dog) received a $17,300 NSERC postgraduate scholarship to look at the effectiveness of aversive conditioning on reducing grizzly bear-human conflict in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, Alberta.

by Lynda Chambers, InRoads editor

There’s a certain irony in “AC” or aversive conditioning.

As a method to minimize interactions between bears and humans, it can appear – to those unfamiliar with the term – that people who care the most about these animals are yelling at them and shooting them with rubber bullets.

And if that doesn’t sound “aversive” enough, those who practice AC also bring in highly-trained dogs to chase and bark at bears!

What a bystander might see, though, is far from what a bear conflict specialist sees.

Just ask Jay Honeyman.

He works with the Wind River Bear Institute, an organization that assists government agencies in managing conflicts between bears and people.

Cruel to be kind? Research has shown that “non-wary” grizzly bears have a higher risk of mortality than wary bears.

“Negative stimuli such as human voices and dogs can be highly effective in teaching bears to stay away from developed sites and away from people,” says Honeyman.

Stimuli reinforce lesson

The word “teaching” is key. As soon as the bears exhibit correct behaviours and move to appropriate spots, they receive positive stimuli - they are left alone – and that reinforces their aversion to human contact.

Honeyman is a recent graduate from the Master of Science in Environment and Management program at Royal Roads University and received a $17,300 postgraduate scholarship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) to look at the effectiveness of aversive conditioning as a non-lethal management technique to reduce grizzly bear-human conflict, and ultimately reduce grizzly bear mortality in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park (PLPP), Alberta.

Non-lethal?

While bear/human interactions put people and property at risk they also too often result in the death of the bear. 

SCHOLARSHIP SMOOTHED PATH TO SUCCESS

Scholarships from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada support students who demonstrate a high standard of achievement in undergraduate and early graduate studies. For Jay Honeyman, the financial support along with the flexibility of studying at RRU made all the difference in the world. In his words: “As someone with a family who works full-time, it was a big decision for me to begin my master’s degree. The program at Royal Roads made it possible for me to continue working and raising a family while advancing my education. The financial support from NSERC also made a big difference because I could concentrate on school and not worry as much about the financial end of things.”

Wary bears safer

Research has shown, for example, that habituated or “non-wary” grizzly bears have a higher risk of mortality than wary bears and, as a result, wary-type behaviour is encouraged by wildlife managers.

Honeyman – yes that’s his real name – chose his research focus for a reason. He saw the need for a formal evaluation of aversion conditioning techniques in order for them to gain acceptance with managing agencies and the science community.

“Many agencies are doing this type of work but few have had the ability to formally evaluate the AC they are doing so I hope there will be interest in the results. Conversations I have had with various wildlife managers suggest there will be.”

He chose Peter Lougheed Provincial Park for a reason too. Few other areas had the quantity and quality of aversive conditioning data needed for such a rigorous analysis.

The bear facts

Honeyman’s findings are significant – and positive for AC.

He discovered that, after the onset of aversive conditioning:

• there was a decrease in developed site use by radio-collared grizzly bears ;
• the wariness of radio-collared and non-collared grizzly bears increased both short-term an long-term; and 
• there was a decrease in the number of bear-related facility closures and warnings.
  
  

Most significant, perhaps, was that human-caused grizzly bear mortality and relocation rates decreased by half within the park while increasing five-fold on adjacent lands where aversive conditioning was not a commonly-used tool.

“My hope now is that AC will be formally considered as an alternative method of managing problem bears and, over time and with consistent AC application, bears will learn to avoid people and developments - resulting in less bear/human conflict and more sustainable grizzly bear populations.”

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Jay Honeyman has been teaching bear safety and awareness courses for over 20 years, within government, the private sector and to the general public. He has been the Executive Director of the Karelian Bear Shepherding Institute of Canada since its inception in 2003 and worked for over 15 years as a park ranger/ conservation officer in the Kananaskis District. Since 2000, Honeyman has worked as a bear conflict specialist for the Wind River Bear Institute, assisting government agencies with their bear conflict problems in various jurisdictions throughout Canada and the United States. He also sits on the communications committee of Bow Valley Wildsmart, a community-based organization whose aim is to reduce wildlife conflict through education.