Buh bye, bear :(

Never having dealt with wildlife in Canada apart from what we find on our own property, I had no idea what to expect when we called the ministry of environment.

The lady was very concerned when we mentioned the bear has been pushing against our doors and windows, and a few hours later two tough looking men in uniform arrived: the conservation officers (specialized policemen) of our district. Behind their vehicle they had a trailer that looked like a huge metal barrel which said in big letters "DANGER - LIVE BEAR TRAP - KEEP AWAY". My first thought was it's a good thing bears can't read... we don't want it to keep away at all!

After seeing some of our security videos, the two officers were quickly convinced that the bear should be taken care of. This situation was rapidly becoming intolerably dangerous, in fact a few days ago it walked by not three minutes after Murray left our shed! If it had spotted the open door, who knows what might have happened...

So we were relieved to see the trap was there, the bait in place, all we had to do was wait for the bear.

It turned out we didn't have have to wait long... the very next evening I heard a "clang!" - the poor animal had pulled the pulley (a most revolting looking "snack") and was locked in. The bear itself hadn't noticed anything just yet, he was too busy devouring all the delicious goodies the two officers had generously left all over the inside of the barrel.

But when we went out (after triple checking it really was locked up, and staying at a very safe distance), he became vicious! Now I understand how dangerous bears can be, he growled ferociously and tried to lash at us. Sorry about the bad quality of the image below, but we didn't want to stress the poor animal too much so we just quickly snapped a picture before we went back inside the house.

At the crack of dawn, the trap was hauled away. Needless to say we have mixed feelings about the whole situation. On the one hand we respect the wildlife and are happy to share our 16 acres with the animals. We never wanted to hurt any living being, we don't hunt and try to offer protection to anything that lives. On the other hand, this bear was becoming more and more territorial and aggressive... and we are not quite ready to share our house with a teddy - five cats is more than enough!

Goodbye bear, we're so, so sorry about this :(