A bear orphaned when conservation officers killed its mother on the North Shore last year has now also been destroyed.

In recent weeks, the bear became dependent on people for food – eating rotting fruit in yards, and even raiding one family’s outdoor fridge.

“It opened my fridge door and took all the frozen food out,” said Gerry Wong who phoned the Conservation Officer Service to report the bear.

Wong has lived on Belloc Street in North Vancouver since the '60s and says he usually sees one or two bears a year in the neighbourhood.

This is the first time one went into his outdoor fridge and also the first time one stayed in the area for several days.

"The bear's not acting normal. Usually they come and they go, right? They don't stay,” said Wong. “Since the bear stayed, eventually it's going to hurt somebody so they had to put him away."

The bear appeared to have a limp and conservation officers initially tranquilized the animal before deciding it had become too habituated to people and destroying it on Tuesday.

Conservation says several households on the street could have done more to keep bears away, including clearing rotting fruit from yards.

"It was actually getting into someone's unsecure outdoor refrigerator,” said Sgt. Todd Hunter. “It's something that we highly, highly recommend not to put outside."

The animal also broke Wong’s outdoor compost box to get at fruits and vegetables inside.

The District of North Vancouver does support backyard composting but encourages residents to be extra vigilant about proper composting techniques in order to suppress odours and keep animals away.

This particular bear spent last winter at Critter Care Wildlife Society after its mother was destroyed.

The animal was released in the spring and only lasted five months in the wild before finding itself in conflict with humans again.

"It didn't have a chance, people didn't allow it to have a chance,” said Hunter. “We tried to give it the opportunity and it found its way getting at those easy meals, that unsecured food waste."

Fines for leaving bear attractants in yards start at $230 and can go up into the thousands.