Local Grizzly trouble strikes Pineview

A conservation officer is asking for patience as a family of grizzly bears has put Pineview on high alarm.

“Just keep reporting,” Eamon McArthur said Wednesday.

“We are doing as much as we can.”

From wandering through back yards to chasing pets to ripping down a shed door to raiding a chicken coop, trouble with the bears has been a major topic in the community this summer.

McArthur said enough information has been gathered to make it “fairly well confirmed” at least one family group is roaming the area.

Their actions appear to have become more brazen as they have started to fatten up for hiberna- tion. In answer to a report of a man being charged on Tuesday night, the service was to take a live trap out to the area on Wednesday.

Past attempts to capture any of the animals have been unsuccessful. Contrary to one resident’s claim, McArthur said the traps have been baited. After trying a bag of garbage last time, conservation officers were to use meat on Wednesday.

“We bait every trap, there’s no sense in putting out a trap if there is not bait in there,” McArthur said.

“The trick is to find out what the animal is interested in. It’s no different than fishing.”

The hope is to trap a sow and its cubs in one swoop – a mother separated from her cubs is a recipe for mayhem – but even getting one bear captured can be a challenge.

“Sometimes bears just don’t want to go into a little culvert,” McArthur said. “If they’re not overly-habituated garbage bears, they may not.”

He said trouble with grizzlies has been more common in Buckhorn during the last few summers and figures the ones roaming Pineview are covering a roughly 10-kilometre area.

“We’ve been out to the area several times but every time the animals are not, even within minutes,” McArthur said.

“We’ve been minutes behind when people have sighted it and we haven’t been able to find the animal.”

What to do with the bears once captured – whether they be relocated or put down – will hinge on the advice of a biologist, McArthur said.

To report a sighting, call 1-877952-7277.