People surprised to find out Toronto park is home to bears
Someone who headed out to enjoy one of Toronto’s green spaces before summer’s end this past weekend stumbled upon a sign that left them feeling a little uneasy: a warning of a bear in the area.
“Today I learned that Rouge Park has a resident bear,” the hiker wrote on social media after the fact, sharing a photo of the PSA, which received a ton of clicks and had a few others similarly stunned.
“My work is partially in the Rouge and I have not heard of this,” one person added, while others made jokes about a potential bear patrol (a Simpsons reference) and the animal likely being “mostly harmless” as “his main aim is to steal your picnic basket and annoy Ranger Smith.”
All quips aside, Parks Canada acknowledges the potential for run-ins with potentially dangerous wildlife, including bears, in Rouge National Urban Park despite its urbanity.
“There have been recent black bear sightings in Rouge National Urban Park,” reads a page on the federal government’s website.
“Black bears usually avoid humans, but sometimes are attracted to urban and rural areas in search of food or a place to live.” It advises residents to stay extra vigilant and aware of their surroundings while visiting the park, “especially at dusk and dawn.”
Humans should also remember the general rules for black bear encounters: remain calm, stay as far away as possible, and back away slowly while talking to the offending creature in a calm voice (do not run or corner it under any circumstances).
Parks Canada also reminds people to keep their dogs leashed at all times while in the green space because of bears and other animals, such as coyotes and deer, that are known to live in the area.
Rouge National Urban Park’s social media accounts cautioned the public in 2020 that there had been black bear sightings and footprints found. Signs around the site reiterate the same message.
Black bears have been spotted in Rouge, in the city’s north end, and even further downtown in recent years, including in 2021, when someone called in a black bear sighting in Etienne Brule Park. Toronto police could not locate the animal in question but said they took the report very seriously.
In 2017, the force ended up shooting and killing a black bear that had found its way to a residential neighbourhood and into someone’s backyard in Scarborough, right near Rouge Park and the Toronto Zoo.