VANCOUVER -- A grizzly was captured in a Squamish district neighbourhood Sunday, conservation officers confirm.
The approximately 700-pound male bear was first spotted in the Brackendale area, north of Squamish, a few days ago, but multiple sightings came in on Sunday morning.
“The claws were incredible,” said Caroline Pope, who recorded a video of the massive bear walking across her driveway Sunday.
“My daughter had been outside in the front yard playing with the girls across the street,” Pope said, calling it “a bit close for comfort.”
“Their mom was outside, but across the other side of the street, and just screamed at them to come into our house,” while Pope retreated to her front deck to watch from a safe distance.
Conservation officer Sgt. Simon Gravel says officers responded to the initial calls about the bear, but couldn’t find it at first. They eventually caught up with the animal around 6:30 Sunday evening in a backyard.
“He was a large grizzly bear, very old, about 700 pounds, and we were safely able to capture him,” Gravel said.
This isn't the first time a grizzly was seen and caught in the district this month.
Earlier in September, a grizzly was seen wandering through Garibaldi Estates area – about four kilometres from Brackendale – eating from fruit trees.
That bear was released, and people in the area were asked to pick any of their fruit and secure garbage and other attractants.
“In the past 10 years, we had almost no grizzlies in Squamish,” Gravel said, adding two sightings this month alone is “surprising.”
He said the grizzly population is in recovery mode, and is growing slightly, so additional sightings are likely.
Gravel said this is a good reminder to residents to secure their garbage and to remove fruit from fruit trees.
“They are wild animals and we want them to stay wild. We don’t want them to be comfortable in your backyard, that’s for sure.”
Both bears have been relocated to the upper Squamish Valley, where Gravel says there are plenty of berries for them to eat.
