An aggressive black bear had to be shot last week, adding to this year's string of bad news for bears.
Conservation Officer Murray Smith said the healthy, 91-kilogram (200 pound), adult female stared his crew down while she munched on food on a picnic table and in a camp cooler at Porpoise Bay Provincial Park.
"The reaction of the bear to us resulted in an immediate decision. There are two criteria the conservation service uses to make this decision," Smith said - if a bear shows signs that it is human habituated, meaning it has lost its fear of people; and if it is food conditioned, meaning it shows an association between people and food. That bear then becomes too dangerous to let live, Smith said.
Smith said they could not make the decision to try to capture the bear for relocation because she was showing them she had no intentions of moving on and would likely search out another human occupied area to get into trouble.
Smith said the bear had already chased off a family and their team could not scare her off either. Taking a chance she might injure campers at another date was not an option.
In an update on the third cub that eluded capture after its mother died from ingesting plastic a few weeks ago, Smith said it is still on the loose though sightings are still being reported.
"Whenever we get a tip we go and look. Right now the cub has food, but it will need its mother this winter to survive," Smith said. "It will continue to show up and this fall when the food sources disappear, it will pick a place to hang out where it can get [human] food and then we can catch it."
The cub is now six months old and while very young, no one should approach it. If you do see the bear, call 1-877-952-7277.
Smith said this has been the busiest year for bear complaints yet in the four years he has been on the Coast. He is adamant that if people want to diffuse this problem they need to start taking responsibility for their own neighbourhoods - put garbage away in sheds or garages, do not put out bird seed until December when bears go into hibernation, and make sure that all fruit is picked off trees whether you plan to use it or not. These simple actions can save the life of a bear, Smith said.
