By Staff.
BURLINGTON, ON May 16, 2012 Seeing a black bear in the community was more than two Burlington residents expected earlier this morning. A quick call was put into the police and that brought out Burlington Animal Control people as well as staff from the Ministry of Natural Resources . A 300 pound + bear was too much for the Animal Control people.
The police had reported two bear spottings in the Milton area but the sense then was that bears would stay in that area. While there is no certainty that this is the same bear the one the police had to shoot was in the area of Mountainside Park. The park is heavily forested, contains a children’s playground and is surrounded by many residential homes and schools.
Residents in this area spotted the bear that Halton Police eventually had to shoot, because there was no tranquilizing capacity at Animal Control and the Ministry of Natural Resources were unable to respond. Watch for tranquilizer guns to show up in next year's police budget..
As soon as the report came in police set up a containment area and notified neighbouring elementary schools of the ongoing problem to ensure there was no risk to school children in the area. Clarksdale, St. Gabriel and Rolling Meadows schools were notified by police of the bear sighting. “MNR personnel advised police that in order to immobilize a bear to relocate it, it needs to be contained up a tree and not in a densely populated residential area,” explained Halton Regional Police media Sgt. Dave Cross.
“MNR officials said it can take up to 15 to 20 minutes for immobilization to take effect, and the bear can be actively on the move and still pose a threat during this time which is why this method is not suitable for residential areas.”
The MNR advised police that they were unable to attend the scene to assist.
This was clearly a public hazard and action had to be taken immediately. Neither police nor the City of Burlington – Animal Control is equipped with or trained in the use of large animal tranquilizer guns or traps, or wild animal relocation. Police attempted to engage the assistance of other private enterprises that may have had the training and equipment to respond, but none were available to attend in a timely manner.
At 11:20 a.m., the bear was sighted by police. Officers tracked its movements and saw it was exiting the forested area of the park into a residential area. The bear was seen again within 30 feet of a local residence. At that point, due to overwhelming community safety concerns, the bear had to be dispatched by officers.
The bear was an adult male weighing between 300 to 400 pounds.
“We empathize with those members of the public who are distressed by today’s events. Our officers do not relish having to dispatch an animal, but our options were extremely limited. Given the particular circumstances, we could not risk public safety as the bear moved deeper into residential areas,” said Public Affairs Sgt. Dave Cross.
I think it’s horrible that the police panicked and shot the bear. It’s unlikely a black bear will hurt humans. We’ve dealt with them before. It’s a shame as well that police are untrained in that and received no help.