Photo: CTV News

Fort Nelson residents have been sharing pictures and stories of grizzly bear encounters in the community since late August. (Facebook/Diane Ens)

Residents living on the outskirts of Fort Nelson say a grizzly bear has been “terrorizing” the community for weeks. 

CTV News reports the bear is causing alarm in the Northern B.C. typically city accustomed to dealing with wildlife, but not an apex predator. 

Tanis Mould says she’s grown nervous of letting her children out to walk alone in the neighbourhood after the grizzly was recently spotted on her neighbour’s property across the Alaska Highway. 

"He's lived here for 50-plus years and he's never had a grizzly in the yard," Mould told CTV News. "It's just getting closer and closer to where we are."

Residents have been sharing sightings of the bear for several weeks on a local Facebook group, expressing frustration that the B.C. Conservation Officer Service hasn’t done enough to keep the bear away from homes. 

"Honestly, we live in the middle of nowhere, we're used to wild animals," Mould said. "But if you guys had a bear walking through Vancouver, the bear would be (dealt with)."

Conservation officer Jeff Clancy told CTV they have received 10-15 reports of the bear since late August. While he understands the neighbourhood’s concerns, he says the three-year-old grizzly has not shown any signs of aggression. 

On Monday, he was called to a report of the bear munching apples from a tree and it was easily spooked. 

"The bear was at approximately 100 yards and it saw me and ran into the bushes immediately," Clancy said. "That tells me it still very much has a fear of humans."

He added the bear is still feeding on natural food sources and isn’t habituated to humans. For now, they are keeping tabs on the bear’s behaviour and hope to drive it out of the community by making it uncomfortable with honking horns and bear bangers.

with files from CTV Vancouver