A black bear tranquilized in a residential neighbourhood in New Westminster Thursday afternoon has been killed, according to the BC Conservation Officer Service.
In an email to CTV News on Friday, the service confirmed that the bear – which officers tracked through the neighbourhood for much of the afternoon – had a history of spending time in urban settings.
"The subadult bear had an ear tag, which means (conservation officers) have been in contact with it in the past," the service explained in its statement.
"This could be for several reasons, but in this case, this bear had already been relocated from Burnaby to a wilderness area on June 16. It returned to a high-density urban setting only three weeks later."
Conservation officer Alicia Buchanan mentioned the ear tag when she spoke to CTV News shortly after the bear had been captured Thursday. At the time, she said officers had not yet determined the bear's history or what would happen to it.
"Despite our best efforts, this bear was simply too comfortable around urban settings and people, and to ensure public safety, the bear was put down," the BCCOS said Friday.
"We know this is an unfortunate outcome that we work so hard to prevent."
Across the province, conservation officers killed 500 bears in 2022, a decrease from the 581 killed in 2021.
Most often, bears are put down because they have displayed behaviour suggesting they're habituated to humans as sources of food.
"The COS would like to remind the public that the best way to help keep people and bears safe is to secure attractants," the service said. "Please don’t let garbage, pet food or birdseed attract wildlife into communities and create conflicts."
Buchanan said Thursday that calls about bears in New Westminster are rare, happening "every few years."
The community that saw the most bears killed by conservation officers in B.C. in each of the last two years was Prince George, where 32 bears were killed in 2022 and 36 were killed in 2021.
