Nine bears killed due to bold garbage raids

Residents of Revelstoke are being chastised after nine black bears were killed in a single week for raiding garbage cans and becoming too accustomed to humans.

The Conservation Officers Service in British Columbia euthanized the problem animals in and around Revelstoke last week, where one animal was brazen enough to approach the downtown.

Gordon Hitchcock, a 28-year-veteran with the conservation service, said it’s very unusual for so many bears to be killed in such a short time period. But he insisted the deaths are unnecessary and avoidable.

Once they’re conditioned to eating garbage, bears become indifferent to people and can no longer simply be transported further into the wild, he said.