Residents frustrated after discovering concerning warning sign on the edge of town: 'This is why we can't have nice things'

Staying safe in bear country is important, but vandals in British Columbia have made that harder for one community.

"This is why we can't have nice things," wrote a Redditor in their post on the r/princegeorge subreddit.

The photo showed a severely damaged sign at the entrance to the Forests for the World municipal park and hiking trails. The dents and holes appeared to be from a firearm.

"I'd like to think this was not a legal owner or hunter," wrote the original poster, who noted how dangerous shooting at the sign was because the park is a popular destination for families.

"Please be better people," pleaded the poster.

Of course, any destruction of property is frustrating, but the incident also hinders conservation efforts.

The bullet-riddled sign featured important information about the surrounding black bear habitat and reminded visitors to enjoy the park responsibly.

It also included several rules to keep visitors and bears safe, with hiking in groups and making noise to alert bears to your presence among its tips. It also warned never to approach a bear and that feeding them is against the law. It also reminded visitors to dispose of garbage properly.

While this may seem like common sense, this reckless behavior is all too common.

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These interactions are not only dangerous for humans, they endanger the bears. When wild animals are conditioned to humans, they are more likely to enter urban areas looking for food, which can lead to their euthanization.

According to the City of Prince George, around 35 bears are euthanized each year because they've become accustomed to unnatural food sources. More bears are destroyed in Prince George than in any other community in British Columbia.

Prince George is on a mission to become one of British Columbia's Bear Smart Communities by implementing garbage management strategies and expanding bear awareness education.

Bears are critical to our ecosystems. Conservationists institute these important measures so that bears and humans can better coexist, and this hard work has paid off in Spain and elsewhere.

But vandalizing the sign promoting these rules and regulations defeats the purpose.

It's also a waste of resources.

"I have seen that so much out in remote areas of the province during my forestry career," wrote one commenter, who added, "I suspect that many that do this are also the ones that complain about 'their taxes' being wasted, while we have to replace all those signs with tax dollars."

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