Bear trapped in a tree off St. Mary’s Rd

Winnipeg Police are on an interesting beat for Saturday afternoon.

Around noon, they responded to a report of a bear up a tree, in the 400 block of Christie Road — which runs off of St. Mary’s Rd, south of the Perimeter.

They arrived to find the bear 40 feet up the tree.

“Winnipeg police service does receive calls of bears and other animals that come in within the confines of the city, but it’s pretty rare to actually see one on scene,” Winnipeg police Staff Sgt. Sean Pollock said.

Conservation officials are on scene trying to devise a safe plan to get the bear down.

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Manitoba Conservation officer Robert Belanger said because the bear is so high, bringing it down safely will be tough.

“We will go through every way possible to try to figure out how to get this bear down safely, and get it to a remote area,” Belanger said.

A bucket truck has been called in to make it easier for Belanger to safely tranquilize the bear. If that works, officers will have to bring the full-grown adult down from the tree themselves.

“If the bucket truck doesn’t reach the height we want to reach, it won’t be very successful in bringing it down that way,” he said.

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If the truck doesn’t reach the bear, officers will have to wait until the bear comes down on its own.

“We will abandon that way all together, and we will just have to wait and keep the yard quiet.”

Belanger said bears are out feeding on berries at this time of year, and seeing them near the city is normal.

He said property owners should keep their yards free of any garbage and food, to help keep bears away.