Kimberley is home to many different types of wildlife including bears, deer, skunks, racoons, and many other urban wildlife. Wildlife often wanders into our city looking for food and/or shelter. It is important to reduce the amount of wildlife attractants within our neighbourhoods and yards to avoid conflict. The major attractants inviting wildlife into our community is garbage, residential fruit trees, residential gardens, and pet food.

One example of how to participate in the Bear Smart Program as a community member is to manage your waste responsibly by following the Bear Smart Guidelines below. The key component, in order to prevent odours and avoid attracting bears & other wildlife, is to securely store garbage, recycling and organics collection carts until their neighbourhood collection day.

“Bear Smart” Guidelines:

  • Store Garbage Carts, Recycle Carts and Organic Cart in an area inaccessible to wildlife.
    • The best way to secure the carts is inside a house (when possible).
    • If stored outdoors, the carts need to be secured and well anchored to prevent an adult bear from being able to drag them away.
    • How? With a cable lock or a metal chain attached to a sturdy structure (metal post anchored in the ground or cement block, structural feature of a building, a sea can, concrete wall, etc.).
  • Freeze meat and strong-smelling food scraps, and transfer to the Organic Cart on collection day.
  • Put all food waste in the Organics Cart and not the Garbage Cart.
  • As mentioned in our Solid Waste Bylaw,  place Carts out for collection by 7:00 am on collection day; ensure that Solid Waste Carts are set out no earlier than 5:00 am on collection day. Remove all Solid Waste Carts from the collection point by 7:00 pm on collection day and store Solid Waste Carts on private property in a safe and secure manner.
  • Keep your Garbage, Recycling and Organics Carts clean between collection days.
  • Store refrigerators and freezers inside.
  • Keep pet food inside.
  • Pick fruit as soon as it is ripe. If you are unable to manage your fruit tree, or need assistance in maintenance, contact Wildsight or review their Apple Capture program online for more information on their tool share program and tree share board.
  • Suspend bird feeders and clean up fallen bird seed.
  • Practice responsible backyard composting and other WildSafe yard procedures.
  • Keep barbeques clean.
  • Take extra garbage to the Kimberley Transfer Station, located at 800 Jim Ogilvie Way – open 8:30 – 5:30pm every day of the week.
  • Install a wildlife resistant enclosure if you are not satisfied with the Carts provided. Other bear-resistant alternatives that can be used to keep organics or garbage securely outdoors include products from TuffBoxx & TyeDeeBins (below).

Violations and Fines

Residents can be fined up to $75.00 for not managing their attractants correctly. It is every resident’s responsibility to make sure their waste does not attract wildlife as outlined in our Solid Waste Rates & Regulations Bylaw No 2694, Amendment No. 2 2023, Bylaw No. 2750. 

In addition, feeding wildlife is illegal in British Columbia under section 33.1 and 88.1 of the Wildlife Protection Act.

Report a Concern

Report a wildlife concern using the following methods:

To report wildlife attractants, improper storage of attractants or wildlife accessing attractants, call the City of Kimberley’s Bylaw Officer at 250-427-9663.

To report wildlife that is aggressive or causing property damage, call the Conservation Officer Service at 1-877-952-7277.

The City of Kimberley is working towards becoming a Bear Smart Community

In June 2023, the City of Kimberley and WildSafeBC started their Bear Working Group in order to achieve Bear Smart Status which is a program through the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. 

The Bear Smart Community program is a voluntary, preventative conservation measure that encourages communities, businesses, and individuals to work together. The goal is to address the root causes of human-bear conflicts, thereby reducing the risks to human safety and private property, as well as the number of bears that have to be destroyed each year.

This program is based on a series of criteria that communities must achieve in order to be recognized as being "Bear Smart." Learn more about the Bear Smart Community Program here.