A young bear was destroyed by the Conservation Officer Service in Revelstoke last week, the second bear of the year to be killed in town.
CO Dan Bartol said the bear was killed on Wednesday after he witnessed it eating unsecured garbage in the Columbia Park neighbourhood.
“You could see a trail of debris and garbage going from inside the neighbour’s place to where the bear was eating it,” he said.
Reports first started coming about this bear in mid-June, said Bartol. “Reports initially said it was shaggy, scruffy and hanging around the residential neighbourhood quite a bit,” he said. “Then there were reports it got into garbage, but without confirmation.
“Two people said they were in the garage when the bear came into it. It was definitely very concerning behaviour.”
At first, it was thought to be a cub and there was talk of rescuing it and bringing it to the Northern Lights Wilderness Centre in Smithers for rehabilitation. However, when they realized the bear wasn’t a cub, the rehabilitation centre said they couldn’t take it.
Last Tuesday, June 27, a report came in with a photo showing the bear was eating garbage. A trap was set and Bartol came to Revelstoke the following day. He said he went around the neighbourhood and found the bear mid-day and chased it up a tree.
He then went to issue a ticket to the person who had left their garbage out the day before. “I told him I was going to have to kill this bear because of his actions,” said Bartol. “He still felt it was an unreasonable charge.”
While he was issuing the ticket, the bear started approaching them. He chased the bear and when he found it, it had pulled the garbage out of an open garage and was eating it on a lawn.
“You could see a trail of debris and garbage going from inside the neighbour’s place to where the bear was eating it,” he said. “At that point the bear was euthanized.”
Bartol said the incident illustrated the need for people to secure their garbage.
“It goes to show when a bear does start associating garbage, garage, food and people, just how quickly they learn and they start walking into garages with people in them,” he said. “It’s a very dangerous situation and that’s why such diligence needs to be taken by residents.”
