Residents of a small village off the shore of Howe Sound have banded together to save an orphaned black bear that had become a daily visitor in the neighbourhood.
The cub first appeared in Lions Bay in late October, according to Coun. Neville Abbott, who said its presence was reported on the community’s online bear-tracking forum.
Over several weeks, Abbott said reported sightings became more frequent and concerning as the scrawny cub scoured for scraps and boldly climbed onto people’s properties.
“The residents of course, at that time, we’re getting very concerned,” Abbott told Global News. “There’s no doubt that bear would not have lasted a winter and clearly was undernourished.”
The Village of Lions Bay had submitted footage and photos of the cub to experts, who informed the municipality it was dealing with a cub of the year, born in 2022.
Abbott said some folks were concerned that the Conservation Officer Service wouldn’t be able to catch and rehabilitate the cub, while others were worried officers would catch it, but euthanize it instead.
“Because it was a cub of the year, we knew Critter Care could take it,” he said. “So we were just trying to reinforce that message, saying there’s a good outcome here — keep reporting, help us catch the bear.”
The Critter Care Wildlife Society rehabilitates injured and orphaned wild animals in B.C.’s southern and Lower Mainland. It needed provincial permission, however, to come in and capture the cub.
Residents launched a calling campaign — reaching out to anyone they knew who could help obtain that permit from the B.C. Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, said Abbott.
At that point, he added, residents had mapped out the bear’s route for entering the area, following a creek from the bottom of the village, and knew where it would be each day.
Within two weeks, Critter Care received its permit to catch the cub and began laying its traps, both on private property and other areas it was known to frequent.
It was captured just days before the province’s last cold snap.
“We share the forest with them, we share our neighbourhoods with them, and I think the humane approach is the right way to manage these animals,” said Andrew Morton, one of several people whose Lions Bay property was a haunt of the little cub.
“They’re beautiful animals. It would be a real shame to see a little orphaned cub like that die unnecessarily … I think we need to have more programs like this and education to me is the key.”
Morton said it was the community’s effort of reporting sightings online, collaborating on trap placement, and providing live updates on the cub’s movements on the day of its capture that helped save its life.
“We’re really happy it turned out this way. It could have been a lot worse,” he said. “Winter was coming.”
The bear is currently with Critter Care, gaining weight and exploring its enclosure. It has progressed from eating an emaciation diet to a natural food diet and is on track to be released this summer, the service told Global News.
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