A black bear that was caught on camera chasing geese in a busy Metro Vancouver park over the weekend has been killed by conservation officers.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the British Columbia Conservation Service confirmed the agency was called to Burnaby’s Central Park on Saturday afternoon. The same day, videos posted online showed a bear on the paddling field and later wandering a walking and biking path near the SkyTrain tracks — both times coming within feet of park visitors.
The bear was first tranquilized, according to an emailed statement from the province.
“After evaluation, the bear was euthanized due to its behavior endangering public safety,” it said, adding that the process included consideration of the risk to humans as well as the animal’s chance of survival in the wild.
“The killing of any bear or cub is an unfortunate outcome that we work so hard to prevent… Bears that are habituated to humans or habituated to unnatural food sources are not candidates for relocation or rehabilitation.”
The service reminds people to minimize the potential for bear encounters by providing attractants such as trash, pet food and bird seed.
Two weeks ago, a black bear was spotted by residents of a neighborhood on the border between Vancouver and Burnaby. Police were called to the scene and shot the animal dead.
Conservationists say colder-than-average spring weather has reduced the salmon harvest this year, prompting more black bears to enter residential areas in search of food.
The latest data from the province on reported black bear encounters is from April of this year. There were 935 calls received, 133 reports investigated and 23 bears destroyed by the British Columbia Conservation Service. These are the highest numbers recorded in publicly available data that date back to 2011.
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