Bear put down after spending a week in Spallumcheen trailer park

‘UP ON DECKS, IN CARPORTS, PUTTING ITS PAWS UP ON GLASS DOORS’

SPALLUMCHEEN – A bear that got a little too used to life in a Spallumcheen trailer park had to be put down.

The roughly two-year-old male bear had become habituated to eating garbage and was not fearful of humans, Conservation officer Tanner Beck says.

“It had been there every single day for the last week up on decks, in carports, putting its paws up on glass doors,” Beck says.

A trap was set yesterday morning, April 19, but when the bear was again spotted in Palisades Mobile Home Park in Spallumcheen, a member of the public phoned 911 and the RCMP arrived shortly after noon.

“This bear was walking through a trailer park in the middle of the day,” Beck says. “It was determined this bear was habituated to garbage and was put down by the RCMP.”

Even if the bear was trapped, Beck says it would not have been relocated because it was already accustomed to eating garbage.

“It got access to garbage and this is the result that came of it. It’s always preventable. It’s unfortunate that it comes to this,” Beck says.

He says the public can help prevent outcomes like this by securing their garbage inside, or in bear-proof bins, and by not putting it outside until garbage pick-up day. Bird seed, pet food, unpicked fruit and barbecues are also known to attract bears. 

This was the first time a bear has been put down in the North Okanagan so far this year, but conservation has already received many complaints.

To report problem wildlife, or violations of wildlife laws, call the Report All Poachers and Polluters (RAPP) line, at 1-877-952-7277.

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