Image Credit: Contributed / Ann Hahr

By James Peters

Bear Aware

Bear aware message hits home for Barnhartvale woman

Jun 5, 2019 | 3:07 PM

KAMLOOPS — A Barnhartvale woman has a stark ‘bear aware’ message for her neighbours, and all Kamloops residents, after a young bear cub was trapped and given a death sentence Wednesday morning.

After the first visit from a young black bear cub, Ann Hahr cleaned up the bird feeder that had spilled into her Klahanie Drive yard, and then alerted her neighbours to the cub’s presence.

When the bear became a regular visitor, Hahr decided to call the Conservation Officer (C.O.) Service.

“I’m concerned that either the bear will get into garbage or the bear is attracted to the honeybees,” said Hahr. “So I’m thinking the best thing to would be to call Conservation and have them relocate the bear or take the bear to the (B.C.) Wildlife Park.”

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The service set a trap in a neighbour’s yard, and when Hahr left the house to let her cat out Wednesday morning, she heard the cub crying. It was caught in the trap.

Image Credit: Contributed / Ann Hahr

When the C.O. arrived, Hahr asked what the future held for the cub.

“I said, ‘Are you going to take the cub out to the wildlife park?’ And he said, ‘No. They don’t take bears.’ So I said, ‘Okay, are you going to relocate him?’ and he said ‘No.’ And I just looked at him and said, ‘Are you going to kill him?’ And he just looked at me and said, ‘Yes.'”

“People should know what happens to them when we’re not being smart about our backyards. And I just killed a little [cub] all because I was trying to save it,” Hahr told CFJC Today through tears.

While Hahr is not happy with the C.O. Service – “Conservation should be Conservation; not Devastation or Destruction,” she told CFJC Today – she wants to direct her message more toward local property owners, telling them to take responsibility.

“Keep your garbage protected until it’s actually garbage day. I have neighbours on my street, on Klahanie Drive, who continually put their garbage out the day before. Either they’re just not smart, or just too lazy… I don’t know what it is, but it’s the same people who constantly do it. So this kind of stuff has top happen,” said Hahr.

The C.O. Service was not available to comment for this story, but last year, Sgt. Kevin Van Damme offered this comment on why habituated bears are killed:

“When a bear does seek out garbage as a food source, or some other human backyard food, that bear will return and it will continue seeking out that type of food,” Van Damme said. “There’s just no ability for that animal to go back to a complete wild setting and not interact with garbage, or not be drawn to garbage again.”

Hahr says she understands she lives in a semi-rural area of Kamloops, and will encounter bears from time to time. But she says the next time she sees one, she knows who she won’t call.

“I will not call Conservation. I will just take notes around to people that say, ‘We have a bear in our area. Make sure [bear aware practices are] happening in your yard.'”