Black bear sightings

I am a user of the trail system for biking in Tatamagouche. I recently had a black bear sighting while biking on the trail section that comes out at the Sutherland Steam I have been advised that a family of bears lives in this section, and sightings are frequent . My particular event was ok, I saw the bear cross the trail from a few hundred yards away, and  used my voice, and bike bell to let him know I was coming towards him/her so that they could make their way away from me. When I got to the point where the bear had crossed, I could hear the cracking of branches etc, as he made his way through the woods a safe distance from me.

I write to you today to suggest that the Tatamagouche community may want to consider taking a stronger management plan to inform hikers, and bikers of the potential threat who are using the trail. In fact I think that there is an onus on the community to address this in a more serious manner to help avoid  an encounter with tragedy or physical harm to individuals. 

I would suggest signage, informing persons of the fact they are there firstly, with advice as to how to best to avoid a nasty encounter, I.E. on not having food that would attract them ( bears), tips on having a whistle, bear spray, reminders that these are not domesticated animals to be fed, or patted, or gotten close to etc.

A black or white board that can be written on so that persons having a sighting on both ends of the trail, can update it with day, time, nature of the sighting, on a daily basis would be beneficial as well. This way individuals could make their decision to go or proceed on the trail if their had been a recent sighting. I think not taking action will only lead to consequences that are not good. Wild animal- human interactions can be managed with proper care, awareness etc. But not taking action to inform, is simply putting your head in the sand and not acceptable, as an event is sure to happen without management and public awareness. In fact the village, possibly the county may find themselves in a situation of a law suit from an injured person as the result of a black bear encounter because of the lack of action and stated public awareness. 

I see this as a fairly serious issue, and one that should be acted on with all expedience. Sincerely, Ray Lindsay ( Truro), hiker, biker, frequent trail user. e mail [email protected].