Black bear surprises people, chases geese at Metro Vancouver park

This screenshot from a video posted online shows a black bear on the pitch and putt course at a busy Metro Vancouver Park.

Two videos posted online Saturday show a black bear surprising people enjoying the Canada Day weekend at a busy Metro Vancouver park.

One video posted to Reddit shows a black bear on the pitch and putt course at Burnaby's Central Park. It chases two adult geese and a gosling, the older birds honking and flapping their wings while the younger one is unable to escape and is eventually caught by the bear. The animal comes within feet of people and one can be heard yelling "Get out of the way!"

Another video posted to YouTube shows a bear in the wooded area adjacent to the paved walking and biking path near the SkyTrain tracks. In the three-minute video, the animal slowly ambles out onto the path itself, coming very close to people cycling and strolling.

It is unclear if both videos show the same bear.

The Burnaby RCMP received "several calls" about a bear in the park and attended at least once between 11:15 a.m. and 3:15 p.m.

"In general, the callers stated the bear was not acting aggressively towards members of the public," says spokesperson Cpl. Mike Kalanj in an email, adding the BC Conservation Officers Service was made aware of the calls.

CTV News has reached out to B.C.'s Ministry of the Environment to see what the response was and this story will be updated if more information is received.

Two weeks ago, a black bear was spotted by residents of a neighbourhood on the Vancouver-Burnaby border. Police were called to the scene, where they shot and killed the animal.

Advocates say the colder-than-average spring weather has reduced the salmonberry crop this year, prompting more black bears to enter residential neighbourhoods looking for food.

The most recent data from the province on reports of black bear encounters is from April of this year. There were 935 calls received, 133 reports investigated, and 23 bears destroyed by the BC Conservation Officers Service. Those are the highest numbers recorded in the publicly available data, which dates back to 2011.