Bear put down in Port Moody after multiple backyard encounters

PORT MOODY (NEWS 1130) — Conservation officers have had to put down a bear that was getting too familiar with humans in Port Moody after it approached a couple in their hot tub, charged a man in his backyard, and surprised someone else in their kitchen.

Chris Miller with the B.C. Conservation Officers Service say they were initially alerted to the bear on Sunday by a man who was chased through his backyard by a small adult male bear.

After following up with others in the neighbourhood, officers learned that the animal seemed to be very comfortable around humans.

“It was not easily scared,” Miller explains.

“This was also heavily food-conditioned to garbage in the neighbourhood. So, taking in the totality of the circumstances, it was deemed that there’s a public safety risk with this bear.”

Miller says keeping garbage bins in garages, if possible, and cleaning them regularly with baking soda or bleach are two things he would like to see people doing more often.

“In those areas, we’re always gonna have bears. We’re totally fine with having bears in our neighbourhoods, we like to see them there. The issue is when we have garbage, and things like compost and freezers in backyards — all that stuff needs to be locked up,” he says.

“Lot of the homes in that area have garages, where their bins could be stored, but they just leave them out with the locks on them that the city bins have which are not typically going to stop every bear. If a bear really wants into those bins they’re going to gain access.”

It’s too early in the season, according to Miler, to judge whether bear encounters are on the rise. People who do see a bear in their yard are encouraged to make loud noises from the window — like blowing an airhorn or shouting. bear spray requires close proximity to the animal so conservation officers say it should be used as a last resort. The key is to make the interaction unpleasant for the bear.

“We don’t want anyone going out and you know running up to a bear to try and scare it off,” Miller says.

“We do not want them to get comfortable in our backyards, that’s when we get these incidents of bears getting comfortable enough to walk through open doors, or even break into homes by opening doors, or opening windows. Whatever you can do to mitigate that from happening by keeping these bears afraid of people is very much appreciated.”