Bear tranquilized after running loose in Transcona By: Ryan Thorpe Posted: 1:49 PM CDT Tuesday, Jun. 5, 2018

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This article was published 04/06/2018 (2299 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A two-year-old black bear was on the loose in Transcona Tuesday morning, attracting a sizable crowd of area residents as it leisurely wandered the neighbourhood and climbed a backyard tree.

Manitoba Sustainable Development conservation officers were able to safely tranquilize the 55-kilogram bear, which swayed in the branches before falling nearly eight metres to the ground.

“It’s not the way you usually start your day,” said Gerry Bates, whose backyard was where the episode ended.

Winnipeg police responded to reports of the bear meandering around Transcona at 6 a.m. By the time officers arrived on scene, the bear had holed up in Bates’s tree on Kildare Avenue West near Plessis Road.

Before the bear was tranquilized with a “jab pole,” conservation officers could be seen walking with shotguns in case lethal force was needed.

“The main thing is public safety, because this is a wild animal. It’s about officer safety and public safety. If you can’t control a situation with a wild animal, (the use of lethal force) might happen,” said Joe Johannesson, Winnipeg district supervisor and conservation officer.

Debbie Goulet was getting ready for work when she noticed the crowd outside. From outside her home across the street she had a good view of the situation.

“People were gathering and (the bear) seemed to be getting more scared. So it was trying to get higher up the tree,” she said. “The bear was just kind of hanging off the branches after they got it with (the jab pole). Then it just toppled over and fell.

“There was no noise, no commotion, it just fell. It was sort of exciting, actually. I’ve never witnessed a bear here before.”

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service officers wrapped the unconscious bear in a yellow tarp before loading it into a large cylindrical steel trap.

Officers tagged one of the bear’s ears, and before locking it in the trap, briefly displayed the animal in Bates’s driveway so media and residents could take photos.

“It was certainly unusual. I’ve been out here almost 60 years and it’s the first time we’ve had this. I guess there’s a first time for everything,” Bates said, standing in her front yard.

“I’ve got a cat inside that’s comatose most of the time. He doesn’t care about what’s going on out here. But my dog gets excited on garbage day when the trucks come around. I was just saying, ‘With all this commotion, this is going to finish him.’”

The bear was shipped off to a conservation office in Selkirk, where Johannesson said it would be under observation for the next 24 hours before being released back into the wild.

An average year might see one or two bears wander into Winnipeg, while other years it won’t happen at all, Johannesson said, adding this was the second one this spring.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe

Ryan Thorpe
Reporter

Ryan Thorpe likes the pace of daily news, the feeling of a broadsheet in his hands and the stress of never-ending deadlines hanging over his head.

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