Bear scare at park

Photo: CTV

Residents of a Coquitlam neighbourhood had a close encounter with a bear on Sunday.

The animal was tranquilized for relocation after it wandered into a busy neighbourhood near a park and soccer field

A large crowd gathered to watch the black bear as police and firefighters converged on the scene.

The bear climbed a tree, and firefighters had to use a ladder truck to get it down after police shot it with a tranquilizer dart.

Julie Keaton was shopping with her son Adam and stopped to watch the commotion.

“We thought we’d drive in and see what was going on,” Keaton told CTV. “We experienced something that we’ll probably never see again. And hopefully we won’t.”

Police kept the crowd back and asked everyone to keep quiet so as not to spook the animal.

“You keep your distance,” Keaton said of her strategy when she encounters a bear. “Distance is important. I live in the area, and I see bears all the time.”

Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart said the bear coming so close to the city’s busiest park was a concern.

“We don’t want bears where people are,” he told CTV. “The interactions are just unpredictable. This one ended well, but we took no chances. We made sure that people were kept away from it and that the bear was ultimately relocated.”

– with files from CTV Vancouver