Three bears were spotted stealing garbage from a Burnaby neighbourhood Friday, and authorities warn the animals may be killed if residents aren’t more careful with their trash.
The bears were first found rummaging through plastic garbage bins Thursday night, when many residents of the Cariboo-Armstrong neighbourhood put out their trash for Friday pickup.
Local man Neil Williams said he and his wife heard noises coming from outside their home at around 11:30 p.m.
“I just opened the blinds and saw the silhouette of what looked like a bear,” Williams said. “We ran out of the back deck and there was one just down at the end of the alley.”
RCMP officers herded the bear and two others back into a nearby forest using a siren, but they returned the next morning.
Conservation officers believe the group consisted of a sow and two sub-adult cubs who haven’t left home yet.
The animal dined on some more trash, and were photographed wandering through the neighbourhood, but weren’t located again by authorities.
Officers say the level of bear activity isn’t unusual for this time of the season, but they’ll be monitoring the situation in Burnaby.
Officer David Cox said more sightings are sure to come if residents insist on putting out their trash the night before it’s collected, however, and the next incident could end up much worse.
“When the animals come in and the comfort level starts to increase and they become totally food-conditioned, it definitely limits our management options,” Cox said. “We want to avoid having to put these animals down.”
With a report from CTV British Columbia’s Maria Weisgarber
