Woman bitten by black bear while gardening in North Vancouver

FILE: A black bear is seen in an undated Shutterstock image.

A black bear was killed after it bit a woman in North Vancouver Wednesday.

Around 3 p.m., the woman was gardening at her home in Deep Cove when she was bitten by the bear, according to the B.C. Conservation Officer Service.

"Thankfully, the woman was not seriously injured," a statement from the BCCOS said.

"The offending bear, an untagged large male black bear, was put down by conservation officers to ensure public safety."

Earlier this week, advocacy group The Fur-Bearer published a list of the 10 deadliest communities for black bears for 2023, based on a Freedom of Information request.

North Vancouver did not make the list, however, the organization notes that statistics on how many bears are put down by community are not available and were not released. There were 603 black bears killed last year in the province but the data released only accounted for 247 incidents.

“The location of where over 50 per cent of the black bears were killed remains unknown by the public, and that’s completely unacceptable both for conservation and government accountability,” executive director Lesley Fox said in a media release.

“We’re calling on the BCCOS to begin publishing bear kill statistics monthly, by location, for the public to see. There is no way for communities to do better when they don’t know there’s a problem.”