Residents of a Maple Ridge community are pushing for change in how the B.C. Conservation Officer Service responds to bears, specifically in the Silver Valley neighbourhood.

The region is known to be a hot spot for bear and wildlife sightings—with a family of bears just being spotted on May 22 and then relocated a short distance away.

But three other bears found lurking in the neighbourhood since May 3 have had a much different fate. The COS said when bears are found to be habituated and food conditioned, there's sometimes no choice but to destroy them.

“The decision to euthanize these bears was necessary to protect public safety. Relocation is not a viable option for high-conflict bears,” said the B.C. Conservation Officer Service in a statement.

But resident Susan Zanders is pushing conservation officers to adopt a no-kill mandate to protect the bears. She is also holding an event June 2 to help members of the community become more “bear aware” and stop this from happening again.

Zanders is bringing in Dan Mikolay of Wildsafe BC to speak at the event and help educate the public on how to deter bears from becoming accustomed to being around people.

“No one wants a bear killed. It is the worst thing to hear the gun shots,” Zanders said. “Our hope is that by eliminating attractants we will eliminate the need for conservation to be in our area—resulting in no kills.”

The COS has always pushed for people to manage their attractants responsibility, but getting the government to agree to a no-kill mandate could be difficult, if not impossible.

“While the COS puts considerable effort into preventing and responding to bear conflicts, including the use of non-lethal response options where appropriate, it does not follow a no-kill mandate in any communities across the province,” the service said.

That's still something Zanders and other residents are hoping to change.

“Bears are opportunists. So if we have a habituated bear, we need to take responsibility as we brought them in,” said Zanders.

Human-wildlife conflict is becoming a growing problem in the province. The COS recommends residents follow the appropriate food waste storage and disposal bylaws to not attract bears in the first place.