West Kelowna neighbourhood divided over recent bear deaths

Photo: Contributed

Two of the three bears that were put down this week in West Kelowna.

Tensions in a West Kelowna neighbourhood are heightened this week after a bear and her two cubs were put down.

"To be honest, it’s beyond disheartening,” West Kelowna resident Carmen Harris said. "It’s very emotional.”

Harris, who lives in an adjacent neighbourhood to Rose Valley where the bears were euthanized, said residents in the community at large are divided between those who are happy to share the space with bears and those who think the creatures have no place in a residential area.

The community Facebook page is rife with commentary from both sides, and conversations are heated.

The best way forward, however, isn't further disagreement, Harris says. She wants the community to find some space in between where more people educate themselves about how to live in interface areas, without more “heartbreaking incidents” such as Wednesday's.

Harris pointed out that when Conservation Officers show up, they don’t come and relocate them.

"They’re shooting them out of trees, which is what they did in Rose Valley,” she said.

"You have residents having to see this, and it can be devastating for children and adults. That’s not the proper way for a bear to die."

The Conservation Officer Service did confirm they didn’t head to the neighbourhood on Wednesday with any other intention than to euthanize the creatures.

"COS received multiple reports over several weeks of the bears lingering in a residential neighbourhood, including daytime sightings near schools and bus stops, as well as reports of bears circling houses and sitting on doorsteps,” the Conservation Officer Service said.

"The bears displayed highly food-conditioned behaviour that showed a minimal fear of people, which included repeatedly accessing non-natural food sources and unsecured attractants, such as garbage, pet food birdseed and fruit trees.”

As a result, “the bears did not meet the criteria, based on provincial policy, to be relocated or rehabilitated,” the Conservation Officer Service said in a statement.

"The bears were euthanized due to being food conditioned to non-natural food sources and for public safety concerns."

In the same statement, officers said that preventing bear conflicts is a community effort and it’s important to secure attractants in these wildlife areas. That means ensuring fruit is picked from trees and off the ground.

"So far this year, the COS has received 76 reports of bears accessing unsecured attractants in West Kelowna,” the Conservation Officer Service said.

They added that Conservation Officers are investigating potential attractants in the area and will take enforcement action as warranted.

Data from the BC government indicates that hundreds of bears have been killed in B.C. this year already. A detailed breakdown on how many of those were in the Okanagan is not accessible.

Harris is hoping more people become "bear aware" so this can all change.

She's been working with Wildsafe BC to come up with ways to help get her community on the same page, and in the near future intends to ask people to volunteer with her to get much-needed information circulated.

“I very much believe in education which creates awareness and understanding,” she said.

She’d like to see is more direction taken from municipalities where there are fewer bear conflicts.

Bear conflicts can be reported to the Report All Poachers and Polluters (RAPP) hotline at 1-877-952-7277. For tips on keeping wildlife wild, visit WildSafeBC.com