Large black bear euthanized in West Kelowna

Conservation officers were forced to euthanize a “large black bear boar” in West Kelowna on Monday night.

They were called out to the Casio Rio Park area to investigate sightings of the bear, which had no fear of people and previous conflict history over the past several weeks.

That history included accessing people’s non-natural attractants like garbage and fruit from trees in residential yards.

It was determined that the bear posed a serious public safety and the best course of action was to euthanize the animal and move it off site.

Conservation officers did just that.

“We wish to remind the public to prevent bear(s) from becoming habituated and food conditioned increasing public safety threats ensure no attractants are available in yards for bear(s) to access,” said a written statement provided to NowMedia from the BC Conservation Officer Service.

The death of this black bear on Monday night is another reminder that feeding bears and other wild animals is a big deal and should not be done under any circumstances.

The BC Conservation Officer Services stresses that not only is a fed bear a dangerous bear, it’s almost always a dead bear as well.

“An aggressive bear becomes much too dangerous for the human population,” said the aforementioned written statement.

“These deaths can be avoided in most circumstances if we simply do not feed the bears or leave attractants, garbage, bird seed or compost available to bears.”

In BC, you can be fined hundreds of dollars to either feed or leave attractants out for dangerous wildlife.