How to be a Bear Wise visitor

Black Bears live across Ontario in forested areas where they can find enough food, shelter, and denning sites. Our provincial parks are their home, and over 90% of our parks are in bear country.

A safe bear sighting during one of your adventures with Ontario Parks can be a lasting memory. Educating yourself about bears before your visit is important and the mark of a responsible park visitor.

We want to share space with bears, keeping our human visitors and all our wildlife residents safe.

If you’re planning a visit, here are some important safety tips about Black Bears:

Continue reading How to be a Bear Wise visitor

Subject: Please do not disturb

In today’s post, we’ve compiled emails from some of the wildlife that call provincial parks home.

Keep wildlife wild, respect wildlife, please do not disturb wildlife.

These are common phrases… but what do they really mean?

To help break it down, we have compiled a few recent emails from some of our furry and feathered friends.

Let’s hear what they have to say on how to be a considerate and respectful visitor:

Continue reading Subject: Please do not disturb

It’s June — what are Black Bears up to?

Planning a visit and wondering whether you’ll see a Black Bear? Tune in to our monthly Black Bear feature where our ecologists let you know common bear behaviour for the month or season.

Love is in the air in June for some Black Bears!

It’s mating season, which runs from about mid-May through July.

It’s more important than ever to practice bear safety throughout your visit!

Here’s what our bears are up to this month:

Continue reading It’s June — what are Black Bears up to?

It’s September — what are the bears up to?

The nights are getting cooler, the days are getting shorter, and the bears know there is limited time to finish packing on the pounds before retiring to their winter dens.

Food will only be available until about mid-October, so the days of feasting are quickly ending.

Like the summer, in September bears are focused on eating. But these days, that focus reaches a whole new level, called hyperphagia.

Continue reading It’s September — what are the bears up to?