Due to forest fires and an early berry crop in British Columbia this year, natural food sources for bears and other wildlife are extremely scarce at this time.  During the autumn months, bears require a high-caloric intake in order to survive the harsh winter months.  This naturally driven need, in addition to lack of food, is drawing bears into local communities to forage for food often resulting in human-bear conflicts.  Conservation Officers are increasingly "managing" these conflicts by killing the bears, which are only acting out of instinct in their desperate search for food.  A bear's hunger does not increase their risk to human safety.  British Columbia needs to allow "diversionary feeding" programs which would draw bears to sources of food away from high-use human areas, so they can feed out of conflict with people.  In allowing diversionary feeding programs, the bears and people in BC will be safe and property damage will be minimized.  We recognize that such a program must be implemented with an organized and planned approach; must be temporary; food most not be of a caloric value that increases reproductive capacity; and the program must only be used in dire circumstances such as these.  (Source: www.bearsmart.com)