OTTAWA - Forget the black flies.

It's the black bears that are on the minds of summit organizers as Ottawa gears up for the G8 summit in Ontario's cottage country at the end of the month.

The bear density in the area around the Huntsville summit is about one animal for every three square kilometres.

Although black bears don't usually attack people, there have been reports of at least one, if not two, altercations in the past few weeks.

And while there's not much likelihood of any of the furry beasts actually making an appearance at the summit, thousands of security personnel will be invading their habitat in the forested area surrounding the meeting at Deerhurst Resort.

Organizers are not leaving anything to chance.

Mounties have ordered three giant bear-proof garbage and recycling stations, plus an additional 129 smaller bear-proof bins, according to tender documents. They have to be made out of strong metal and be fitted with bear-resistant locking systems.

The Summit Management Office says it is tightly managing all waste generated at the summit site.

And if any bears do decide they want to get a first-hand look at the dignitaries, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources will have a bear technician on site "for quick response," said summit spokeswoman Beatrice Fenelon.

The technicians are trained to trap and transfer the bears, or tranquilize them if necessary. But killing the animals is a last resort, said ministry spokeswoman Jolanta Kowalski.

"Our goal is always to shoot last."

But that's nothing compared to the precautions Ottawa took to deal with the fierce grizzlies that posed a threat to Canada's previous G8 summit in Kananaskis, Alta.

Well before that summit took place in June 2002, organizers trapped all the grizzlies in the area, implanted tracking devices in them, and then let them go. When it came time for the summit, they could electronically monitor how close they were to security forces.

If they got too close, organizers had imported several Karelian bear dogs from the United States. The dogs naturally hate bears with a passion, and quickly become agitated if there's a bear nearby. They will attack a bear if they can.

So in Kananaskis, if bears were venturing into areas where they were not welcome, officers would go out with the dogs, on leash, and create a ruckus to scare the bears away.

The main point was to keep the security personnel safe from the grizzlies while not having to kill any bears.

Grizzlies are generally far more dangerous to humans than black bears.

Still, in the Huntsville area, a man was mauled by a black bear while gardening on Victoria Day weekend. The bear attacked the man's leg, face and head, and he was sent to hospital in Toronto for plastic surgery.

Local media reported that another man on an ATV was charged by a bear in the same region a few days later, although the provincial Ministry of Natural Resources has not been able to confirm that report.

In 2005, a black bear actually killed someone in the area, said MNR spokeswoman Kowalski.

But she said there is no truth to the rumour that the bears are more vicious this year because the spring has been so dry and food is in short supply.

Spring did come early, she said, throwing off the bears' biological clocks and pulling them out of hibernation a month earlier than usual. But food was abundant at the beginning of the season, letting the bears satisfy their post-winter hunger.

"As of now, the food sources have been supposedly quite good. So hopefully bears will stay in the woods where they belong," Kowalski said.

Black bears rarely confront humans, but MNR always advises anyone working in the woods to carry bear spray and a small axe, just in case, she added.