Bear season brisk for conservation officers in the Southern Interior
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – It was a busy bear season for conservation officers in the Southern Interior, who were forced to destroy 30 bears and relocate or rehbilitate another five.
The B.C. Conservation Office says there were 404 bear calls in the Kamloops area between April 1 and Nov. 2, well ahead of Kelowna, Vernon and Penticton.
Conservation officers attended 51 calls in Kamloops and destroyed 12 bears. Two additional bears were destroyed by an unidentified third party and two cubs were recovered for rehabilitation.
Kelowna reported 256 bear calls with officers responding to 23 of those calls. They destroyed seven bears and relocated two others in the region.
Vernon wasn’t far off, with 183 calls for service and officers attending to 18 of those calls. They were forced to destroy eight bears, while one bear was reported destroyed by a third party.
Penticton saw the least amount of bear action with 78 service calls, attending just three. Officers destroyed three bears and relocated a fourth.
Statistics were not available for all areas but officers in Kelowna and West Kelowna recently reported a doubling of calls for service for bear conflicts from April 1 to Sept. 9, 2015 compared to the same period in 2014.
To contact a reporter for this story, email John McDonald at jmcdonald@infonews.ca or call 250-808-0143. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
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So sad that these bears were destroyed, when I spoke with a conservation officer in Victoria, he told me that they do not trap and relocate bear, wonder if this true??? In Dufferin this past month we had a mom and two cubs for over a month after numerouscalls by a neighbour and myself I receive a call from a conservation officer in Victoria, got an earful from him on being bear smart and was told by him that if I made another complaint about these bears they would be destroyed. Sad that everyone doesn’t take the necessary steps not to give the bears a food source to avoid the bears having to be destroyed.Unfortunately we still have bears in the area, scary but I sure don’t ever want to speak to this conservation officer.
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