By Ryan Pilon

Bear was dangerous: conservation officer

May 19, 2011 | 4:41 PM

Conservation officers are explaining why they shot and killed a mother black bear on Wednesday night in Prince Albert’s Hazeldell area.

Bonnie Greene, a conservation officer in the education unit, said there had been sightings of the bear and her cubs for the past three weeks, and it had started to become dangerous.

“They’ve had reports that it had charged at several people in that area. Also, possibly if it was the same bear, there was a dog that was injured. So it definitely had been showing some very strong signs of aggression,” said Greene.

She said the reason the conservation officer didn’t try tranquilizing the bear first was because it was at 9 p.m., and getting dark outside.

“(Bears) can tend to travel considerable distances before the chemicals takes effect, and we’ve just had way too many safety concerns with this specific bear, and he (the conservation officer) didn’t want to risk losing sight of the bear,” she said.

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Greene said that while people are not allowed to shoot sows with cubs during the hunting season, shooting the mother bear was not illegal because of the safety risk.

“When it’s such a high safety risk like this, unfortunately it’s something that just can’t be prevented,” said Greene.

The mother bear’s cubs are still on the loose, and Greene said she is unsure what they will do to them when they find them. She said it depends how old they are, what kind of state they are in and if there is a rehabilitation facility to take them for care.

Greene reminds people to not leave garbage out if there is a bear sighting in their area, because the bear is more likely to stay close.

For more: Conservation Officer shoots black bear that wandered into Hazeldell

rpilon@panow.com