A black bear is seen in this undated WildSafeBC photo.

(HOWARD ALEXANDER - NEWS EDITOR / iNFOnews.ca)

There is typically an uptick in bear activity this time of the year and recreation enthusiasts may want to be more vigilant, even in city centres.

Revelstoke resident Jennifer Kelly got a shock when she ran into a black bear on her bicycle last week.

“I was involved in a hit and run today on my bicycle,” she posted on social media Sept. 10. “I hit the bear and the bear ran.”

Kelly said she was coming around the corner to the Big Eddy Bridge on the town centre side when she hit a sow. The bear and its two cubs ran away after the collision. She and her bicycle were both damaged in the ordeal. 

“I was in my own little world going around a corner and it wasn't quite light out yet," she said. "It felt unreal, it was like hitting a wall. I skinned my knees and broke my baby toe. My bike is wrecked, the front wheel is bent."

Kelly said she was more shocked than afraid during the incident.

She said there are bear families on either side of the bridge and she is spotting more of them around town than she did last year. 

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Revelstoke resident Nate Fochler hit a bear while he was skateboarding a few years ago, causing him to fall and suffer some road rash.

“It was like hitting a big, furry wall,” he said. “It was a big black bear. The bear was as surprised as I was. The bear got knocked over and we both were just confused and like ‘what the heck was that?’ Then it got up and ran into the bush.”

Around 50 reports of bear sightings in Revelstoke were made to Wildsafe B.C. in the past month while fewer than 10 were made at the same time last year, almost all of them black bears. 

There was a decrease in reports made in Kamloops from around 75 last year to about 55 this year, and a decrease in Kelowna from 100 last year to half that this year during the same month.

Bears reported in Penticton and Vernon remained about the same, around 20.

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Black bears account for 14,000 to 25,000 calls per year to the Conservation Officer Service, according to WildSafeBC.

They are are most active from April to November, but in milder climates, or where they are continuously finding food, bears may not go into their dens.

While most bear encounters result in the bear leaving an area, they can become more assertive or destructive when they have learned to associate humans and their activities with food.

B.C. Wildsafe warns against becoming complacent and allowing bears to become habituated to humans. There are many safety tips to follow to reduce incidents.

Some of these include watching for signs of bears, making noise to avoid surprising a bear and being aware of your surroundings when hiking, biking or running in bear country.

All bears that are aggressive in nature, or sightings in urban areas, should be reported to the Conservation Officer Service at 1-877-952-7277, according to WildSafe.

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