Police in Kenora say the shooting death of a bear that showed up in a residential area on Friday was out of the ordinary, and not the way bears are usually handled within the city.
The bear killed late Friday night after tranquilizer darts failed to knock out the animal, which then charged at animal control officers. Some neighbours in the area were upset they weren't warned of the shooting beforehand.
The 200-kilogram bear had recently been found hibernating in the crawl space of a 2nd Street North house in the northwestern Ontario city. Authorities opted to leave it undisturbed over the winter, according to residents of the home, but the bear apparently woke last week and was found roaming the neighbourhood late Friday.
Kenora police Sgt. Grant Lawrence said residents weren't told the bear would be shot because officials hadn't expected the situation to go awry.
Bears encounters within the city are not uncommon, he said -- roughly 40 bears were spotted last year alone -- and the majority were successfully tranquilized and relocated.
"Ninety-nine per cent are darted, we remove them, and they're taken back into the bush," he said.
In this case, Lawrence said he believes a tranquilizer dart hit a bone and fell out, leaving the bear still conscious. "After that happened the bear charged the animal control officers, and police were forced to shoot it," he said.
lindsey.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca
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