This is a letter I wrote to the City of Whitehorse’s parks and recreation department regarding garbage containers in the Chadburn Lake Park area.
I figured that, since forever, these garbage containers have not had bear proof latches on them, it might be best to send my complaint directly to our newspapers in order to shame the powers to be, into doing something about it.
During a recent hike on the Chadburn Lake trails, I observed a garbage container with the lid open. So I checked it out and found nothing inside. A short distance away the black garbage bag was ripped apart with the contents strewn about. I can only assume by the evidence that this was done by a bear, as the bag appeared to be torn out of the container.
My conclusion is we now have an educated bear who will become a dead bear.
As this garbage container, which was located to the left of the lakeside parking area, did not have a so-called bear proof latch, I decided to check all the sites along the Chadburn Lake Road.
The lakeside container was upside down with the back door (used to remove a full bag) opened and with a fire started right on the lid. This could not be a bear, as they are not that stupid.
The container to the right where the shelter is did have a bear latch, but was not bolted down to the concrete pads. Of the 10 or so containers, only two had a bear latch (the one at the Canyon Trail parking lot had a latch but the box was warped, making the latch inoperable); only one at the boat launch was bolted down; and most did not have concrete pads under them at all.
As bears have been a hot topic in the news lately, I would think it would be a wise decision to do something about it in the very near future.
Don Graham
Whitehorse