The conservation officers of Columbia Britanic (COS) says that a brown bear on a small island off the coast of the Sun has been shot dead.
The bear will undergo necropsy, the COS said in a Facebook post.
Early in the day, the service said he was investigating a RCMP report that the bear was shot and possibly injured by a public member in the Vana neighborhood of the Island of Texada, near the Powell River.
The Grizzly first was seen in Texada on May 25. The bear has caused a debate among the residents of the island of 300 squares of kilometer, which houses just under 1,200 people.
Some residents wanted the bear to move or kill, while others wanted it to be left alone.
Texada is not usually the host of large predators, since it is between Sunshine Coast and the island of Vancouver in the Strait of Georgia of British Columbia. Wildlife management experts say that the bear is likely to the island from the Powell River.
Relocation options
Three coastal nations had worked together to create a plan to move the brown bear, but the province had not signed.
The conservation officers service previously told CBC News in a written statement that the Grizzly adult male, estimated to be five years old, was not a good candidate for relocation because it had already moved twice.
The service said the bear had already been relocated after he found himself wandering near schools and areas of the center of Gibson and Sechelt, in the continental BC last year.
What should happen to the brown bear on the island of Texada? He has been causing problems in the community of approximately 1,000 people and are divided on whether to be killed, eliminated or left alone. Three coastal nations have an idea.
After being transferred to Vancouver Bay, partly from Jervis Inlet, about 50 kilometers north of Sechelt, Grizzly returned to the Costa del Sol. He was then further relocated to the extreme farther from Jervis Inlet.
The statement also included a list of problematic behavior in which the bear has been involved this year, which includes:
- Harassing two residents while walking on a path on the Powell River on May 22. The residents escaped into the water while the bear walked on the shore for half an hour, destroying one of their jackets.
- Harassing a resident walking with his horse and dog for half a kilometer on the island of Texada on May 28.
- As reported, chasing cattle on June 10 and 11 on the island of Texada.
The statement also said that there have been multiple bear sightings near a school, a store and farms in Texada.
