Black bear ‘put down’ on Coquitlam golf course: conservation officer

COQUITLAM (NEWS 1130) — A black bear with a history of chasing people off of a Coquitlam golf course before rifling through their bags in search of food has been shot and killed, according to the B.C. Conservation Officers Service.

The bear was ‘destroyed’ Saturday at the Westwood Plateau Golf and Country Club.

Sgt. Todd Hunter says relocation was not an option.

“We did catch up to the offending bear and put it down. A food-habituated bear at that level, exhibiting that type of behaviour is very risky, and we can’t afford to release it,” he says.

“There were numerous times where it was approaching people on the golf course, chasing them away, getting into conflicts there.”

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Hunter says the bear was not deterred after tight restrictions were introduced.

“No food was permitted on the course whatsoever. The bear did not budge from that pattern and it actually got to the point where we had to intervene,” he says.

“The bear wasn’t changing its behaviour. It was way too risky.”

B.C. Conservation Officers have had some success recoating bears with histories of searching for food in populated areas, but that only becomes an option if a bear changes its behaviour after “attractants” are eliminated.

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