Conservation officers hunt young bear

Powell River conservation officers are asking Wildwood residents to take extra caution after an incident with a bear on Thursday, October 24.

Wildwood resident Lisa Gaudreault was taking her two-year-old son Anthony for a walk in his stroller. She stopped to visit with a friend on Atlin Avenue and pulled Anthony out of the stroller to walk up her friend’s driveway to chat.

They were standing about 30 feet away when something caught her attention, she explained.

“It was pretty rattling,” she said. “We just turned around and looked and a young bear was shoulder-deep in the stroller.”

The bear was interested in a four-litre jug of milk that had been left in the stroller. Gaudreault tried to shoo the bear and it did go about 30 feet away. But then it turned around and stood its ground.

“It looked as if it wanted to come back for the milk in my hand that I was trying to save,” she said. The milk jug has a one-inch puncture hole in the top.

Gaudreault called conservation officers and an officer responded.

The officer found the bear, but he couldn’t shoot it because it was in a residential neighbourhood, said Powell River Conservation Officer Andrew Anaka.

“Unfortunately it was not in a place where it could be safely and humanly dispatched,” Anaka said. “He didn’t destroy it at the time and continued to look for an opportunity to destroy it, but couldn’t find an opportunity before it was dark.”

Anaka said he has joined his colleague in searching for the bear and would appreciate any leads that the public can provide. He describes the bear as “easily identifiable.” It is a small “dishevelled-looking” two-year-old brown bear with a lighter brown patch on its face, he said.

“We’re a bit concerned about this one,” he said. “So often it tends to be a younger bear that has learned some really bad habits and taken the easy way in life.”

Unfortunately, people-food is the easy way and often leads to their demise, he said.

Since April this year the conservation officer service has received 308 bear-related complaints in Powell River and has had to destroy three bears. Last year over 600 complaints were logged and approximately a dozen bears were dispatched.

To report conflict with wildlife or to report a violation, readers can call the service’s 24-hour reporting line at 1.877.952.7277.