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Buying bear spray in Saskatoon

Jul 28, 2011 | 10:43 AM

Bear spray is a fairly easy item to purchase at approximately $30 a can, which seems evident on the heels of two separate bear spray incidents that occurred in Saskatoon Wednesday morning

Jen Busby works at Whole Sale sports on the city's west side and says her store sells a lot of bear spray.

“Bear hunting season is pretty big but we sell it all year round — it’s a pretty steady item.”

However, Busby says if staff members get a bad vibe from a customer, they won't sell them the bear spray.

“We have people that come in here that absolutely smell terrible, you can tell they’ve been drinking — they can’t stand upright. At that point we say, ‘No we don’t have any in stock’,” said Busby.

She also says the store locks the item out of sight and a person must be 18-years-old, and hold a valid driver’s license to be able to purchase a can.

Each canister of bear spray has a serial number that is recorded at the store to keep track, but according to Busby, it’s not a sure way of tracking each purchase.

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