Authorities have tranquilized a black bear found roaming through Burnaby, B.C. on Thursday afternoon and say it will be relocated into the wilderness.
The bruin climbed a tree at a Chevron gas station on the Lougheed Highway at around 5 p.m. before making its way into the backyard of a nearby residential property.
At least five RCMP units responded to the scene and surrounded the animal, which was knocked out with two tranquilizer darts. It is expected to be kept alive and transfered to the Harrison Lake area on Thursday evening.
Conservation officers believe is the same bear that startled several residents in the Willingdon Heights neighbourhood hours earlier, beginning at around 7:30 a.m., but said they aren't positive.
The animal, believed to be about three years old and weigh 300 pounds, was coralled south past Brentwood Town Centre and the Lougheed Highway without incident before authorities let it head off on its own towards Burnaby Mountain in the early afternoon.
Staff Sgt. Dave Eidet said the primary concern was to avoid an encounter between the bear and children on their way to school.
“The last thing we needed was someone coming around a corner and startling the bear and potentially getting injured,” he said.
Eidet said conservation officers were called to the scene but they did not believe it was necessary to put the bear down.
