“In the last 36 hours, we’ve received four bear sightings in Saanich,” said Sgt. Damian Kowalewich with Saanich Police. "A lot of our residents are obviously alarmed by this and it’s a higher number of sightings than usual.”

Last year, Fish and Game and the Juneau Police Department received roughly 470 calls about bear activity. By the end of August this year, they had already fielded more than 600.

Grizzly bears sightings are on the rise on Vancouver Island, and experts have a few theories as to why this is happening.