Environment and Parks
From the streets of downtown Vancouver to the back country north of Squamish, a wandering young black bear has been relocated to its natural habitat.
Yesterday afternoon, B.C.'s Conservation Officer Service (COS) was busy responding to a reported sighting of a black bear in downtown Vancouver.
Conservation officers arrived on the scene to find a young male black bear standing on top of a garbage truck at Cambie and West Georgia. It is believed the bear hitched a ride from North Vancouver, where the truck was doing pickups earlier in the day. Conservations officers managed to tranquilize the bear using a "jab pole" with a needle attached to the end.
(flickr.com) The tranquilized bear was brought to a secure compound in North Vancouver and placed into a culvert trap to recover. It was released in the upper Squamish Valley this afternoon.
The COS says that while many bears are already hibernating, urban bears in mild climates often wait until late winter, fattening up as long as they can before curling up for the remainder of the season. The tranquilized bear was considered suitable for release as it had no previous history of conflict with the COS.
The main cause of human-wildlife conflicts in B.C. is access to non-natural food sources. Bears that learn how to get at exposed food, improperly stored garbage, ripe fruit, or composts become conditioned and will continue to return to the food source.
Contact:
Suntanu Dalal
Communications
Ministry of Environment
250 387-9745
