Officials in Coquitlam are urging locals to keep their distance from bears after an animal who was reportedly fed by residents for multiple days had to be put down.
According to the RCMP, officers and members of the BC Conservation Officer Service were called to the area of Kingston Street and Galloway Avenue on Aug. 14 for reports of an injured bear who was surrounded by “a large crowd.”
Const. Sandra Morse with the Coquitlam RCMP tells 1130 NewsRadio the bear appeared to have an injured paw, noting it “wasn’t putting any weight on it.”
“It looks like it probably was caught in a trap of some sort. The residents did feel badly, obviously, this poor thing hobbling around the neighbourhood. Again, they had fed it for three-plus days, so the bear wasn’t overly motivated to move along. Combined with the injury, and the fact that it was so used to the human contact, the conservation officers did advise that it had to be euthanized.”
The bear was fed watermelon, police say, with neighbours telling officers that people had been feeding the animal for several days.
The bruin was euthanized by BCCOS after it was determined the bear “had a history of conflict behaviour in the neighbourhood.” That included going into garages to eat garbage and other scraps, the RCMP explains.
“Due to the risk to public safety, it was not a candidate for relocation or rehabilitation,” Mounties said Friday, noting the animal was “humanely put down.”
“Once a wild animals does become habitualized to humans, it poses a significant danger to the community. We were advised by BC Conservation that, more often than not, that’s resolved in the need to put the animal down,” said Morse.
“They start to kind of become more reliant on humans and humans aren’t as scary to them. So that’s when we see them returning to the neighbourhood — they know that it’s a food source, and obviously, when you have bears around humans, this is when there’s more potential for conflict. In these instances, Conservation will like to tranquillize them and relocate them. However, if they know that this is where they’ll get food, the bears will return, and we obviously don’t want that.”
Images shared by police show the bear sitting on some grass near a sidewalk with a watermelon peel in front of it. Another photo shows the bear sitting in front of a tipped-over bin, eating from the trash at a home.
The RCMP says anyone caught feeding wildlife, including bears, cougars, coyotes, and wolves, can face fines of up to $575.
Morse notes penalties increased this year.
“It is a much steeper fine than previously and it just reflects the serious nature of feeding them,” she explained.
The Coquitlam RCMP says it could not identify who exactly was feeding the bear that was eventually put down. As such, residents were warned about the consequences, though no fines were issued.
People are being reminded to keep their garbage secure and indoors and to only put bins out on the day of collection. If you come across a bear, officials say to not approach it.
“Feeding bears is a dangerous activity that puts public safety at risk. We ask the public to never feed or approach bears and take steps to help prevent bear conflicts,” said Danielle Bell, a communication and outreach coordinator with the BC Conservation Officer Service.
“Don’t give bears an opportunity to access garbage and other non-natural food, and help keep the community, and the bears, safe.”
Bear conflicts or aggressive behaviour can be reported to the RAPP line at 1-877-952-7277.
-With files from Maria Vinca