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“I recently moved away from my childhood neighbourhood, but I remember coyotes used to dominate the summer nights … and [make me] feel scared because they looked so strong and vicious,” said Schwuchow, a business student at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. “In the months before I moved away, I saw those same coyotes on my street again, but this time during the day and in more seasons than just summer, with their ribs sticking out looking absolutely starved.”

 

From polluted rivers to burned forests, food sources for B.C. wildlife have been destroyed. Coyotes and bears, amongst other animals, are beginning to starve, changing their hibernation and scavenging patterns. These animals are starting to venture into city landscapes to find new food sources. In 2021, Wild Safe B.C.’s Wildlife Alert Reporting Program recorded 20,251 black bear and 1,838 coyote encounters in urban areas. This presents danger, not only for city residents, but for the health of our local wildlife. “Everything on the land has changed compared to the 1860s when everything was cold … now bears hardly hibernate because there’s no environment for them to hibernate for six months,” KPU Elder in Residence Lekeyten said in a recorded interview.

 

The reason B.C.’s local wildlife is starving is not as simple as you may think. Our surrounding ecosystems work in a cycle, depending on the life of summer and death of winter for food sources and those they feed to prosper. As the globe warms up and humanity exploits resources, these ecosystems are front of the line to feel the effects.

 

Brown and Black bears, native to North America, spend six to eight months feeding in preparation for hibernation. Their diet consists of nuts, berries and green vegetation, but get most of their calorie dense meals from salmon.

 

B.C’s Fraser and Skeena rivers are two of the largest producers of sockeye salmon and also home to industrial activities like mills and oil rigging. These activities pollute the rivers, putting stress on salmon populations. Sockeye numbers in the Skeena River declined 56 per cent in some areas, 99 per cent in others and have only continued to drop, a 2021 report found.

 

The decrease of the food source has serious effects on bears’ lifestyle.

 

“[Bears] can’t store enough body fat to make sure they can hibernate four to six months anymore, so they come out in the springtime early and hungry,” said Lekeyten.

 

KPU’s environmental protection program instructor, Paul Richard, said bears are also waking up at times when food sources aren’t available.

 

“The plants they rely on are emerging from the ground a bit earlier because of climate change, so the timing is off and they're not getting the best protein and proper calories that they could get if the timing was how it’s supposed to be,” said Richard.

 

Heat domes, which happen when hot ocean air is trapped by the atmosphere, are drying B.C.’s forests year after year, also affecting food sources for wildlife.

 

Coyotes, also native to North America, feed on rabbits, rodents, insects and vegetation. As heat domes dry out the land, coyotes’ food sources are killed by droughts and their habitats are burned by fires.

 

These climate change events lead bears and coyotes to starvation, taking them into cities in search of food.

 

“Bears that get too far into the suburbs get used to people’s garbage, and then that causes a real problem,” said Richard. “They've found their new source of food … and if humans try to shoo them away, they go, this is my food, you're not chasing me away.”

 

While coming face to face with a hungry bear probably isn’t at the top of your bucket list, this challenge presents just as much danger for wildlife.

 

“They come near the cities and towns and become euthanized by the conservation officers … and that’s the bears, the coyotes, look at Stanley Park, they’re starving … and that’s because of climate change,” said Lekeyten.

 

Consumption of litter and unhealthy food is another risk for these animals, leading to sickness. This can be prevented if everyone takes the right steps to ensure proper garbage management, like picking up waste and locking communal trash bins at night.

 

Even though Schwuchow now lives in South Surrey and hasn’t seen a starving coyote since her move, she considers ways to reduce her environmental footprint.

 

“Taking environmental responsibility is an ethical way we can help these animals,” said Schwuchow. “Look towards renewable energy and green transportation to fight climate change and save wildlife’s food sources.”