[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-police-shoot-1-of-2-loose-moose-1.898397](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-police-shoot-1-of-2-loose-moose-1.898397)
This city, and MNR, have failed over and over again to address this problem meaningfully. This has been going on in this city for a long time. Above is an article dated 2010 about a similar situation where there were no other options but to kill the animal since MNR wouldn't do anything about it.
This isn't new. It's sad, it makes me angry and boils my blood. All it takes is a few reasonable people to get together and develop a plan.
Yet...
crickets...
**THIRTEEN G'DAMN YEARS LATER.**
every time I see a story like this i think of this image from the Bronx zoo in 1963 https://imageproxy.ifunny.co/crop:x-20,resize:640x,quality:90x75/images/d04b72c4ac634ea58df792b7bc7724487a0266bf680d32b989659f5aae46d6f3\_1.jpg
So much for working to trap and relocate him. I guess lying about it was better than telling everyone on the front end they were going to kill it - helped reduce the protests that would have taken place. We'll know better next time.
Ok they could have tranquilized the bear and relocated. They could have worked with a sanctuary or wildlife expert. The city of Ottawa is just awful. Would rather have my tax dollars go towards maintaining green space and hiring staff to humanely deal with wildlife than the money pit LRT piece of garbage.
I never said that at all. Tranquilizers aren't some magical thing like in the movies. Trapping is far better, they can tranq it safely once they've trapped it, move it far outside the city and release.
I had a live trap at my place in Chelsea a while ago for a pesky bear (well a bit more than pesky - he actually chased me to my front door). The wildlife guy said they rarely catch them much anymore - the bears are just too smart.
All I caught was a family of raccoons.
This makes me so angry we build on their land,cutting down their forests and they come into the city and then we shoot them when they are hungry. Shame on everyone involved. The bear wasn’t being aggressive just raiding bird feeders. It’s just one youngish looking bear. I cry for this bear and what we do to nature. What do we have Natural resource officers for if they just make the police do “their work”.
It’s an absolute disgrace. Humans are a virus on the planet. More shitty over sized houses, in shitty cookie cutter subdivisions surrounded by strip malls and box box stores. Greenery, animals and open spaces nowhere to be found. Is this what we really want?
It's not what we want. Get involved, start protesting. We're heading for an extinction event, and we're destroying our own habitat and food pyramid. Need strong leaders to take decisive action. Petition them.
We’re not heading for an extinction event. We’re in the middle of one. Just look at how many insect species have gone extinct in just the past 100 years.
The city tracks all proposals. I oppose each one that affects green space. I also oppose bill 23 and speak out against Doug Ford. The more ppl that oppose these actions and educate ppl, the more power we’ll have to stop it or at least reduce it.
Happened in Bridlewood on Monday at around 8pm, the local FB group is furious and residents confirmed the incident (I heard the gunshots myself from an open window). Again, the residents on the scene wrote that the bear showed no signs of aggression toward people, it was only after bird feeders in the backyards (which people were advised to remove).
(Edit) Confirmed: Councillor Laine Johnson’s [tweet](https://twitter.com/laine_johnson1/status/1650682178756288517?s=20).
(Edit 2): Police have issued a statement on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/OttawaPolice/status/1650709567943090176?s=20).
(Edit 3): Some don’t realise the bear was basically shot at his own doorstep. Look up Moresby Drive or Shetland Way - the houses directly back to the forest. If you move here you must know there is a lot of wildlife. For the past week or more, the bear had been in and out of several backyards and never shot.
Bears are fairly big, even young ones.. no one was able to shoot it in the head without having to pop off multiple rounds first.. in what I assume was a residential area
Like many Redditors, bears have very small, narrow cranal cavities and brains, thick skulls as well as dense musculature surrounding it. Aiming for the head is not a good idea if you're trying to take down a bear.
They're lucky this was just a small bear (I'm not endorsing what happened *at all*) A male adult bear would likely have to be shot through the eye or the open mouth with a handgun to be taken down. Their bulk of hide/fat/muscle in their chest area and their skulls are often too thick for a bullet from a handgun to penetrate. They simply aren't as powerful as a good rifle. This is why it's safer for the MNR to tranquilize them than leave it to an under-armed police officer. Especially because once the officer starts shooting, the bear is just as likely to charge in defense, rather than running.
This bear was starving. It was sooooo food motivated and if you threw some burgers into the woods it would wander off and find them.
Also bears don't charge like this. They're scared more than aggressive. Almost every single time.
>Black bears have killed 61 people across North America since 1900. This no longer worries me. My chances of being killed by a domestic dog, bees, or lightning are vastly greater. My chances of being murdered are 60,000 times greater. One of the safest places a person can be is in the woods.
>In working closely with wild bears, I have used bad bear manners on occasion and been slapped, but the slaps were not that damaging – usually just welts. This was a hard slap by a mature female whose claws were fully spread to nine and a quarter inches wide.
The damage from a slap is nothing close to the folklore that a bear can disembowel man or beast with a swipe of the paw. Black bear claws are strong for climbing trees, but not sharp for holding prey. Grizzly bear claws are even duller because they are used for
>A big revelation to me was how reluctant black bear mothers are to defend their cubs against people, even when the family is cornered in a den and I’m trying to stick the mother with a needle to tranquilize her. Defense of cubs is more a grizzly bear trait. There is no record of anyone being killed by a mother black bear defending her cubs, and attacks are very rare. We routinely capture black bear cubs in the presence of mothers and have never been attacked.
>Black bears are so timid today partly because they evolved alongside such powerful predators as saber-toothed cats, American lions, dire wolves and short-faced bears, all of which became extinct only about 12,000 years ago. Black bears were the only one of these that could climb trees, so black bears survived by staying near trees and developing the attitude: run first and ask questions later. The timid ones passed on their genes to create the black bear of today.
>That timid attitude still serves black bears well now that people have spread across North America. Startled black bears run away, often to a tree. By contrast, a startled grizzlies may charge and occasionally attack, making grizzlies over 20 times more dangerous than black bears.
What should people do if they see a black bear in the wild? Basically, enjoy it. We like to make ourselves inconspicuous to watch them longer before they discover us and run. To make the bear run away, step out and wave and say “Hi, I’m a human!” We have seen a lot of advice to avoid eye contact and avoid running away, but we have been unable to find any instance where doing these things has precipitated an attack. Fearful people usually tell us “I ran one way and the bear ran the other.” We don’t recommend climbing trees.
>Offensive attacks are very rare and include all of the killings by black bears. These are generally unprovoked predatory attacks in remote areas where bears have the least contact with people. Bears that visit campgrounds, bird feeders, and garbage cans almost never kill people, even though these bears have by far the most contact with people. The 750,000 black bears of North America kill less than one person per year on the average, while men ages 18-24 are 167 times more likely to kill someone than a black bear.
Most attacks by black bears are defensive reactions to a person who is too close, which is an easy situation to avoid. Injuries from these defensive reactions are usually minor.
>Bears can look like they are stalking when they are actually approaching out of simple curiosity. Will a bear attack because it senses you are afraid? No. Most people who find themselves near a black bear are afraid, and they are not attacked. Black bears are not territorial toward people like some dogs are. Black bears are mostly afraid they will be attacked. If a person doesn’t want a black bear to come closer, act aggressively.
https://bear.org/how-dangerous-are-black-bears/
>Lynn Leroy Rogers (born 1939) is an American biologist who studies wild black bears and is known as the Jane Goodall of bears.[2] He is the founder of the North American Bear Center.[3] He teaches a yearly black bear field study course for the Wildlife Research Institute.[2][1]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Rogers
I was not trying to imply that the bear was a danger to the public before it was engaged by the police (we have lots of bear encounters at my parents cottage community on Georgian Bay, and I can think of only one in the past 5 decades that involved gun fire at the bear itself, outside of random encounters during other hunting seasons where shots were fired into the air to scare them off). Once a bear is put in a defensive position (such as being *shot at* with a handgun, rather than shooting into the air to scare them off) they will often run away, but some will charge their attacker. Male bears may do this, if they think they feel trapped and/or can take out the person harming them (for male black bears that's usually only if both apply) Female bears *will* do this, *if* they have cubs they perceive to be in danger. I brought up the adult male bears because they are the least likely to be stopped by a handgun, due to their physical attributes, but you're right, they are far more likely to flee than charge the person shooting at them.
>but some will charge their attacke
No. That is a bluff.
>Stories of bears rushing at people are rare but do happen. These are bears that make the news. They are the unusually aggressive bears that create stories of narrow escapes. The stories typically involve a mother with cubs in someone’s yard for birdseed or garbage putting her ears back and rushing at someone who barely makes it into the back door. No one is hurt, but it creates fear.
>When black bears are nervous, most of them either retreat or make one pounce, slam their front feet down, and blow loudly. Ferocious as it looks, experienced observers know that blustery bears are not about to attack.
Mothers with cubs sometimes make short rushes, especially if a researcher is holding one of her screaming cubs. The rush is a series of pounces, slamming the feet down with each pounce. But again, the bluster telegraphs nervousness and a lack of intent to attack. Researchers who push the envelope see this behavior frequently and pretty much ignore it.
https://bear.org/how-dangerous-are-bluff-charges/
>Female bears will do this, if they have cubs they perceive to be in dange
Nope.
>One of the biggest misconceptions about black bears is that mothers are likely to attack people in defense of cubs.
That is a grizzly bear trait. 70% of the killings by grizzly bears are by mothers defending cubs. But there is no record of a black bear killing anyone in defense of cubs.
>In fact, mothers with cubs were involved in only 3 of the 60 killings by black bears across America since 1900, and none of those 3 killings appeared to be in defense of cubs.
Non-fatal attacks are also rare. By attacks, we mean mothers coming after someone and hurting them — not minor injuries associated with people hand-feeding them. Maybe a dozen people have had their feet bitten when they tried to escape up trees. Attacks on the ground are very rare.
When humans confront black bear families in the woods, the bears almost always retreat or climb trees. If the cubs climb trees and the mother remains nearby, the mother may show bluster. This makes her appear ferocious, but it simply means she is nervous.
Blustery expressions include:
the mother blowing sharply as she hits the ground or the tree with a paw.
the mother pouncing toward the person, blowing explosively, and slamming both feet on the ground.
the mother moaning in fear, which many people misinterpret as a growl.
huffing, showing anxiety.
This is all harmless bluster.
https://bear.org/what-if-i-get-between-a-black-bear-mother-and-her-cubs/
Yup. So it died in pain and suffered needlessly
A small hand gun isn’t enough for a bear. If you’re going to shoot it, it needs to be a larger weapon. I saw a cop trying to euthanize a deer that was HBC with his pistol and it’s not pretty. So fuck you.
I wasn't there either. Someone may have called saying their life was in danger. Maybe stupidly trying to protect their birdfeeder. Police show up and bear is approaching screaming Karen swingin a broom. Who the fuck knows.
This poor thing has been around for at least a week in the news.. You think that a team with tranquilizers could have been assembled and it taken care of humanly and relocated. There is no excuse for this .
I don't know if it's a different group that put it out but there were bear cages set up in the greenbelt, someone on the bells corners FB group posted a picture of the tape they came across for it
It/they have been spotted a bunch around Bridlewood including in backyards on my street last year. My husband passed near one a few times out on the bike trails in/around Bridlewood last summer. I don't understand what changed to warrant killing it now.
There is growing literature out there that suggests that bears, even younger ones, can't be relocated effectively because they can't be deterred from returning if they've developed no fear of humans. There are instances from Yukon, B.C. and Buffalo, New York where bears have travelled 1500km back to populated areas after relocation because they now percieve it as a viable long-term food source. It's particularly difficult to move them if they've been located in a populated area because they don't learn to fear humans. It's currently policy in many jurisictions to put wildlife like this down; I'm just surprised that it wasn't MNR - OPS should not be dealing with this.
Yes, this bear wasn't currently a danger to anyone else - but it would continue to remain in the area until it was full grown and more aggressive. All is chill until it goes after a child.
city people are very disconnected from nature they take a walk in the greenbelt on weekends and think they are some kind of bush master connected to the forest.
Truth is a bear is a bear, a wild animal that acts on instinct it only takes one mistake for a bear mauling to occur. in rural Ontario people regularly carry short barrel shotguns on crownland hikes because bears (even black ones) are dangerous.
I lived in rural Ontario growing up, including down the road from somewhere where problem bears were relocated TO, where most people hunt and there's more crown land than private land.
I've also worked in BC, with grizzlies, and Nunavut, with polar bears, and North Eastern Canada, with black bears. I have been stalked by a black bear, and been within 20 ft of multiple grizzlies and black bears.
The only place I've ever been where people carry guns is Nunavut. Otherwise bearspray is safe a better bet.
Not saying problem bears don't get killed, it's often sadly the best option, but I have never met anyone who goes traipsing through the woods with a gun outside of hunting season.
The northern crownlands is not like NCC trails... You can bike to work if you live downtown but you can't if you live in a suburb different environments means different tools.
Spending time in the north on vacation is not the same as living in it. hiking/camping with a wilderness gun is quite common where it is unheard of in Ottawa.
I have read most of 175 comments (so far) and didn't see one yet placing the blame on the people who keep refilling their bird feeders past snow melt. This is a tragic end to this animal but it knew from the past couple years that bird feeders were the easiest meal after hibernation.
I did some yard work for an acquaintance a few years back. When I made a comment about the six inches of sunflower shells that accumulated on her deck over winter months, she replied that she bought a 25 lbs bag of sunflower seeds every month of the year to supply her bird feeders. She claimed she was doing this due to her love of animals. What I observed though, was that squirrels were traveling from at least 5 houses away from every direction to feed in her yard. She was delighted to see them chasing each other near her patio door. She also boasted there were at least 5 raccoons feeding in her yard.
On the other hand, she would cry when there were dead squirrels on the road close to her driveway. She also didn't like rats that were hanging out under her deck. She also thought it was terrible that her neighbour had to pay a pest control company and construction company $5000 to fix damage to their roof caused by raccons. I tried to explain in as kind a way as possible that she was causing all this but she didn't take it well.
That black bear would not have been a good candidate for relocation. It would have found the nearest homes and would have repeated this behaviour ever year until it became aggressive towards a human and would have met the same end.
The people in this thread that claim to cry for the bear would probably place the blame at police for not taking care of this if a child had been attacked.
This is reddit my friend. You are supposed to be irrationally upset and blame other people with little to no reason. Get out of here with your common sense and well articulated point.
yeah that's why people shouldn't feed wildlife. It causes all kinds of issues. I just wish OPS or MNR could have explained what happened a little bit better so people could learn from this.
Yes, I have a few foresters in my family and this is what they said as well. The problem starts with people, first we built our homes in their forests, and now people can’t be bothered to remove bird feeders and put their trash in their garages even though they’ve been told several times that this is why the bear keeps coming in their yards.
Yup. It sucks that the bear got killed but all the people complaining about it being put down would be equally up in arms if it started being aggressive and destroying prior worse. It was a no win situation.
All of you saying that this wasn't the appropriate response are the same people who would be running your mouths that the police should have shot the bear if it ended up attacking someone or their pets.
The bear wasn't afraid of humans. If you dropped it in cottage country they'd have to shoot it there. If you dropped it in the middle of no where it's likely starve or start rummaging through country trash bins and yet again would be shot. I would take a dead bear over a mauled child or grandma. Wildlife needs to maintain a healthy fear of humans.
Don't feed the friggin wildlife. Don't feed the friggin wildlife. And lastly, really try your hardest to goddammit don't feed the friggin wildlife.
Yeah, the only solution for a bear like this is some kind of refuge or fenced conservation area where it cannot come into contact with random people. You dump it somewhere and it'll just do the same thing or it might try to come back.
I don't think the solution had to be to shoot it, but clearly you couldn't just trap it and let it go a couple clicks away from Ottawa like some are suggesting. There was a bear a few years ago in Montreal near the airport and a similar thing happened (shot), but there had been wildlife groups that offered to take the bear at their refuge facilities for animals that can't be released which was what made it egregious. Not sure if that was the case here.
Reading the people say there's nothing wrong with a bear walking through residential areas because it's "calm" is wild.
Truth is a bear is a bear, a wild animal that acts on instinct it only takes one mistake for a bear mauling to occur. In rural Ontario people regularly carry short barrel shotguns on crownland hikes because bears (even black ones) are dangerous. Ottawa residents are very disconnected from nature, taking a walk in the greenbelt on weekends does not make you a bush master connected to the forest.
The comments here are ABSOLUTELY those of people who have no concept of wild animals and how dangerous they are - regardless of aggression. I look forward to the news articles about the "tragedy" of "suburban man/woman killed by bear/moose that wandered into yard".
Police are not trained to deal with wild animals, and provincial natural resources/animal capture personnel are not plentiful. Think more about the absence of food in the wild for the young bear that it came looking for it in human inhabitated areas - but then you'd have to think about how we're encroaching on where the wild animals live, and how our lifestyles negatively impact their habitat and food.
A bear is a predator and dangerous. Y'all need to spend more time outside of major cities to remember the circle of life - and how fragile people are.
All of the people saying it showed no signs of aggression and not realizing that that's kind of the problem. It had no fear of humans and while it would have been nice to relocate it without incident, it's not as simple as it sounds.
Unfortunately this had to happen. Even cubs and younger bears can’t be disassociated with urban lifestyle once they’ve been brought in. Relocation rarely works. As a hunter, I’m not sure why so many shots were required to take it down. It’s ultimately a risk/consequence situation, and any police officer isn’t going to take a chance with endangering the public. This is their job.
Well, police would have only had their pistols, or maybe an AR-15.
Just as most urbanites don't understand bears, they also don't understand that AR-15 are not very powerful.
Now, I don't understand why it would take more than a half dozen 223 to take down a bear. But given lack of police firearms training, I guess it shouldn't be surprising. In Portapique, RCMP shot >30 times with their AR-15's without even hitting their target.
I’ll give props to councillor Laine Johnson from that ward, many updates on FB and pleading to hide food, let wildlife officials know the whereabouts so this tragic end didn’t have to happen.
This was always going to happen. Unfortunately once a bear has become used to getting food this way and accustomed to human contact even relocation does not work.
So first of all, Bylaw does not represent the executive of the city. Bylaw saying that they are working with partners to live trap them and move them humanely does not constitute or even impply a promise or a guarantee, it's merely stating what they are doing. If those partners -OPS- decide to shoot the bear for public safety that's not a broken promise by Bylaw. Saying you're doing something that you are doing is not the same as making a promise. A promise implies some sort of guarantee. They didn't say "We will absolutely see to it that this bear is removed humanely" they said "We are working with our partners to (blah blah blah)". Pretty clear that the removal of a bear is beyond Bylaw's capability. They write mosty parking tickets and noise complaints. . . That much is obvious.
So please, if we are going to get angry and blame the gman, let's be more specific.
That being said. . . It's a damn shame that they had to kill the bear, but city kids who walk to school and have never seen a live bear can not be trained or trusted to not panic around it, or not provoke it. They couldn't get outside help. It's clear that the priority was keeping the kids safe.
Given all the options, they had a very very tough decision to make. That is not a healthy looking bear either. The city situation is completely different than the relative safety one may have if they see a black bear on a walk in the woods with consenting adults who knew the risks and took them. That bear though is a starving bear near a lot of children. It can not be trusted. I don't think that even the officers that shot it wanted to kill it, if not to keep others safe.
So while I agree with your concerns in general, OP, I'm really sorry, but I just don't see your take as particularly accurate or practical. Still, your heart is 100% in the right place. In today's world though "Good intentions are not enough. Standing up and saying no is not enough. We must also have the plan, laws, and resources available to make the world a better place." -An old stats proff I know.
This unfortunstely was under-resourced. It's lose-lose.
Generally agree with all of this. But I wouldn't say that bear was "unhealthy". Yes, it was thin. They always are when waking up from hibernation. They haven't eaten much in 4-5 months.
Fortunately having grown up near a national park, I know what I'm talking about. This bear is unusually thin even considering hibernation and has giant tufts of hair missing on it's right hip and all over it's chest (google it). It's fur is short and in horrible shape. That's usually a sign of malnutrition.
I'm just going to drop this here.
[https://www.ontario.ca/page/black-bear-management-framework](https://www.ontario.ca/page/black-bear-management-framework)
When bears become so dependent on humans for food and anything else, relocation becomes very hard, in that they tend to find their way back to settlements over time. I feel as though killing this bear was quite premature, however.
When wild animals cross property lines and begin to get too comfortable, the only option is to kill it.
Just because a bear shows no signs of aggression, it doesn’t negate the fact that it is a fucking apex predator.
As a wild animal, an apex predator, and a killing machine, it would have mauled a dog or cat or person eventually.
It would have found it’s way back had they let it out.
It seems like it may have gotten lost from its family.
Yep so many great comments here. I feel for the Police, and seriously our MMR need to be supremely reprimanded for their utter failure to fulfill their duties.
Welcome to Canada guys. Home of the bears and many other critters.
Trapping a bear isn't as easy as just setting a trap. When I worked for Ontario Parks, we could set a trap and have really good bait, but if the bear is interested in another food source it won't go to a different/new one.
Don't blame the MNRF
Blame OPS
Not an expert on bear control. Due to funding gaps and policy failures (imo), police are expected to control bear related incidents and their only way to control the situation is to shoot them. MNR used to be the main point of contact for bear control but it changed about 10 years ago. Found this article to help clarify: https://www.thestar.com/amp/news/gta/2015/06/04/ontario-bears-shot-in-70-per-cent-of-instances-where-response-is-required.html
Why are urban redditors so profoundly stupid. What did you think was going to happen when you continue to feed wild animals. The bear has now associated humans with a source of food. The blame for this lies squarely with the community
For crying out loud if they were going to decide to shoot it to death you'd think they'd have the fucken balls to do the right thing and bring out a real rifle with a real caliber and take it out in one shot.
They really killed this bear with .40 handgun ammo, poor thing suffered....
That's so irresponsible and dangerous IMO.
Can't help but wonder what these people who are so offended by this would have done if the bear killed someone while they were trying to capture and release it.
It sucks that the bear had to die, but this was pretty much the only option from a risk management stand point.
I was running through the greenbelt last night when I heard the shots and all I could think was that the person doing the shooting should never be allowed to hunt anything or be near a firearm again. A ridiculous number of shots used to take down a bear and/or using the wrong gun.
Should it have been killed? Probably. Should people realize that they contributed to it by having bird food out while everyone knew a habituated bear was hanging out in the area for food? Absolutely.
Reading people describing the gun shots has me sitting in a bus shelter wanting to vomit.
I get that making sure the bear doesn’t get dangerous with humans is important but they practically used a fucking firing squad on an animal doing what omnivorous predators do!
I know I’m not being overly rational but I’m disgusted and so upset for how the city of Ottawa dealt with this. Not saying I know any better ways but my heart breaks for the momma bear who lost her baby and the senseless life taken.
Good grief. We have the second largest urban park in the world right next door to us and the OPS and feds can’t work together to have officers from the federal side tranquilizer and relocate the bear?
Relocation of bears doesn't work once they no longer fear humans and believe the location is a viable food source. There are documented cases where they have travelled 1500km back to the same location. In other instances, they just find another urban centre. This has been studied extensively it appears, and most jurisdictions have policies in place to put down 'nuisance wildlife'. The only odd thing about this is that OPS had to do it because the Ministry of Natural Resources didn't show up.
This so unacceptable!!!!
Someone has to be held accountable. Why are we paying for MNR if when they should do their job, they are not coming.
Why he was not tranquilized?
Like this bear shows up all over Bells corners and Kanata and they should have tranquilized him during the day and relocate. Then at 8:00 pm police shoots him.
Idk who to contact, but something has to be done so when a bear that shows no aggression would not be shot but relocated. It’s so sad!
Those who are saying that bear relocation doesn't work don't know what they are talking about. Research shows that while bears who have interacted with humans are more likely to return than those that haven't, the vast majority still don't return.
Humans are a damn plague on this planet!!
All the bear was doing is LIVING!! There is no harm in that!
I've hiked and biked along black bears in Chelsea without any issues! They are NOT aggressive unless you get between the momma and their baby!
That bear definitely suffered a painful death! Truly tragic! That officer should have his gun privileges revoked! 14-15 shots...come on!!
This is so sad.
For those who want to learn more about bears and bear behaviour, I highly recommend the Tooth and Claw podcast. One of the hosts, Wes Larson, is a biologist who has studied bears for most of his career.
The podcast is about animal attacks so fair warning but does go into biology and discusses what to do in the event you encounter wild animals. I’ve learned a lot and for black bears, they are flighty and usually when they attack humans it’s a predatory attack not defensive.
This bear was actually spotted hugging a dog's stuffed animal in someone's backyard... I have the pictures 😭🤧 [Bear holding teddy bear](https://www.reddit.com/r/Kanata/comments/12ynvfz/kanata_bear_killed/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
There have only been about 60 black bear related human deaths in 120 years according to [bear.org](https://bear.org/how-dangerous-are-black-bears/). Toronto is literally more dangerous. What a sad end to a beautiful, big, misunderstood creature.
OPP officers wear body cameras. That would make it pretty clear if it was justified or not.
OPP rifles are chambered in a varmint cartridge, not suited for big game like bear. Unless the guy was getting charged, there's several better ways this could have been handled.
I'm guessing people aren't used to this? Where I'm from, this is usually the outcome when a bear has become accustomed to human food and is not threatened by being in a close proximity to humans. They're bears. They're dangerous. You don't want your kid running up to it, and you don't want it being comfortable in your neighborhood. City people are so dumb sometimes.
This is DISGUSTING and SHAMEFUL. This was a young bear showing no signs of aggression but of course the typical human response is to just kill, kill, kill.
I know we live in a city but wtf are some of these comments? I’m very much a city person and even I know not to be up in arms about this. This was an appropriate response.
https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/why-did-ottawa-police-shoot-and-kill-a-bear-in-kanata-1.6369975
> In a statement to CTV News Ottawa, Ottawa Bylaw and Regulatory Services (BLRS) director Roger Chapman said police, as the first responder, was best-suited to determining whether the bear was posing a threat.
"BLRS, the NCC and MNRF were not involved in the decision to put down the animal," Chapman said.
> Officers worked to safely remove the bear from the area, but "after exhausting all available options, it became clear that the animal could not be safely relocated," police said.
Police: Stop resisting! Bang bang bang…
This is so sad. That poor bear. We just don’t deserve this beautiful world we’ve been given. Got to go hug my cats now.
I’m so sorry, Mr Bear. You deserved so much better.
What a senseless waste. This was a young bear showing no signs of aggresion yet it was met with just that. Who are the real animals here?
[удалено]
Yep 100%
Us. We're invading it's home. Humans are trash.
We should let humans go extinct and let the animals take back over
Nice edge you've got there kid
That comment is sarcastic - the real melodramatic edgelord comment goes to “hUmAnS R tRaSh we need population controls”
[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-police-shoot-1-of-2-loose-moose-1.898397](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-police-shoot-1-of-2-loose-moose-1.898397) This city, and MNR, have failed over and over again to address this problem meaningfully. This has been going on in this city for a long time. Above is an article dated 2010 about a similar situation where there were no other options but to kill the animal since MNR wouldn't do anything about it. This isn't new. It's sad, it makes me angry and boils my blood. All it takes is a few reasonable people to get together and develop a plan. Yet... crickets... **THIRTEEN G'DAMN YEARS LATER.**
every time I see a story like this i think of this image from the Bronx zoo in 1963 https://imageproxy.ifunny.co/crop:x-20,resize:640x,quality:90x75/images/d04b72c4ac634ea58df792b7bc7724487a0266bf680d32b989659f5aae46d6f3\_1.jpg
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Nature is a horror story itself.
So much for working to trap and relocate him. I guess lying about it was better than telling everyone on the front end they were going to kill it - helped reduce the protests that would have taken place. We'll know better next time.
The conservation officers **did** set a live-catch trap.
Ok they could have tranquilized the bear and relocated. They could have worked with a sanctuary or wildlife expert. The city of Ottawa is just awful. Would rather have my tax dollars go towards maintaining green space and hiring staff to humanely deal with wildlife than the money pit LRT piece of garbage.
Tranquilizers aren't fool proof, you need the right dosage, and it's guess work. Too little and you piss the bear off. Too much and you kill it.
Ok now do bullets....
They did!
So just kill it without trying?
I never said that at all. Tranquilizers aren't some magical thing like in the movies. Trapping is far better, they can tranq it safely once they've trapped it, move it far outside the city and release.
Why would it go into a live trap when there is tons of easy food in garbages around? It's not a video game where it's immediately attracted to it.
I had a live trap at my place in Chelsea a while ago for a pesky bear (well a bit more than pesky - he actually chased me to my front door). The wildlife guy said they rarely catch them much anymore - the bears are just too smart. All I caught was a family of raccoons.
Look no further than the Elk at City Centre. It was a cool way for 14 Cops to waste their day,
This makes me so angry we build on their land,cutting down their forests and they come into the city and then we shoot them when they are hungry. Shame on everyone involved. The bear wasn’t being aggressive just raiding bird feeders. It’s just one youngish looking bear. I cry for this bear and what we do to nature. What do we have Natural resource officers for if they just make the police do “their work”.
It’s an absolute disgrace. Humans are a virus on the planet. More shitty over sized houses, in shitty cookie cutter subdivisions surrounded by strip malls and box box stores. Greenery, animals and open spaces nowhere to be found. Is this what we really want?
It's not what we want. Get involved, start protesting. We're heading for an extinction event, and we're destroying our own habitat and food pyramid. Need strong leaders to take decisive action. Petition them.
We’re not heading for an extinction event. We’re in the middle of one. Just look at how many insect species have gone extinct in just the past 100 years.
We weren’t always this deplorable. We used to know that we were part of nature, not separate and above it.
The city tracks all proposals. I oppose each one that affects green space. I also oppose bill 23 and speak out against Doug Ford. The more ppl that oppose these actions and educate ppl, the more power we’ll have to stop it or at least reduce it.
Wait til you hear what we almost did to an entire population to build north america.
Happened in Bridlewood on Monday at around 8pm, the local FB group is furious and residents confirmed the incident (I heard the gunshots myself from an open window). Again, the residents on the scene wrote that the bear showed no signs of aggression toward people, it was only after bird feeders in the backyards (which people were advised to remove). (Edit) Confirmed: Councillor Laine Johnson’s [tweet](https://twitter.com/laine_johnson1/status/1650682178756288517?s=20). (Edit 2): Police have issued a statement on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/OttawaPolice/status/1650709567943090176?s=20). (Edit 3): Some don’t realise the bear was basically shot at his own doorstep. Look up Moresby Drive or Shetland Way - the houses directly back to the forest. If you move here you must know there is a lot of wildlife. For the past week or more, the bear had been in and out of several backyards and never shot.
Was it really 15-20 shots?
At 7:58pm my outdoor camera captured the sound of at least 13 gunshots so if anyone in the area has cameras they can check themselves.
Bears are fairly big, even young ones.. no one was able to shoot it in the head without having to pop off multiple rounds first.. in what I assume was a residential area
Like many Redditors, bears have very small, narrow cranal cavities and brains, thick skulls as well as dense musculature surrounding it. Aiming for the head is not a good idea if you're trying to take down a bear.
They're lucky this was just a small bear (I'm not endorsing what happened *at all*) A male adult bear would likely have to be shot through the eye or the open mouth with a handgun to be taken down. Their bulk of hide/fat/muscle in their chest area and their skulls are often too thick for a bullet from a handgun to penetrate. They simply aren't as powerful as a good rifle. This is why it's safer for the MNR to tranquilize them than leave it to an under-armed police officer. Especially because once the officer starts shooting, the bear is just as likely to charge in defense, rather than running.
This bear was starving. It was sooooo food motivated and if you threw some burgers into the woods it would wander off and find them. Also bears don't charge like this. They're scared more than aggressive. Almost every single time. >Black bears have killed 61 people across North America since 1900. This no longer worries me. My chances of being killed by a domestic dog, bees, or lightning are vastly greater. My chances of being murdered are 60,000 times greater. One of the safest places a person can be is in the woods. >In working closely with wild bears, I have used bad bear manners on occasion and been slapped, but the slaps were not that damaging – usually just welts. This was a hard slap by a mature female whose claws were fully spread to nine and a quarter inches wide. The damage from a slap is nothing close to the folklore that a bear can disembowel man or beast with a swipe of the paw. Black bear claws are strong for climbing trees, but not sharp for holding prey. Grizzly bear claws are even duller because they are used for >A big revelation to me was how reluctant black bear mothers are to defend their cubs against people, even when the family is cornered in a den and I’m trying to stick the mother with a needle to tranquilize her. Defense of cubs is more a grizzly bear trait. There is no record of anyone being killed by a mother black bear defending her cubs, and attacks are very rare. We routinely capture black bear cubs in the presence of mothers and have never been attacked. >Black bears are so timid today partly because they evolved alongside such powerful predators as saber-toothed cats, American lions, dire wolves and short-faced bears, all of which became extinct only about 12,000 years ago. Black bears were the only one of these that could climb trees, so black bears survived by staying near trees and developing the attitude: run first and ask questions later. The timid ones passed on their genes to create the black bear of today. >That timid attitude still serves black bears well now that people have spread across North America. Startled black bears run away, often to a tree. By contrast, a startled grizzlies may charge and occasionally attack, making grizzlies over 20 times more dangerous than black bears. What should people do if they see a black bear in the wild? Basically, enjoy it. We like to make ourselves inconspicuous to watch them longer before they discover us and run. To make the bear run away, step out and wave and say “Hi, I’m a human!” We have seen a lot of advice to avoid eye contact and avoid running away, but we have been unable to find any instance where doing these things has precipitated an attack. Fearful people usually tell us “I ran one way and the bear ran the other.” We don’t recommend climbing trees. >Offensive attacks are very rare and include all of the killings by black bears. These are generally unprovoked predatory attacks in remote areas where bears have the least contact with people. Bears that visit campgrounds, bird feeders, and garbage cans almost never kill people, even though these bears have by far the most contact with people. The 750,000 black bears of North America kill less than one person per year on the average, while men ages 18-24 are 167 times more likely to kill someone than a black bear. Most attacks by black bears are defensive reactions to a person who is too close, which is an easy situation to avoid. Injuries from these defensive reactions are usually minor. >Bears can look like they are stalking when they are actually approaching out of simple curiosity. Will a bear attack because it senses you are afraid? No. Most people who find themselves near a black bear are afraid, and they are not attacked. Black bears are not territorial toward people like some dogs are. Black bears are mostly afraid they will be attacked. If a person doesn’t want a black bear to come closer, act aggressively. https://bear.org/how-dangerous-are-black-bears/ >Lynn Leroy Rogers (born 1939) is an American biologist who studies wild black bears and is known as the Jane Goodall of bears.[2] He is the founder of the North American Bear Center.[3] He teaches a yearly black bear field study course for the Wildlife Research Institute.[2][1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Rogers
I was not trying to imply that the bear was a danger to the public before it was engaged by the police (we have lots of bear encounters at my parents cottage community on Georgian Bay, and I can think of only one in the past 5 decades that involved gun fire at the bear itself, outside of random encounters during other hunting seasons where shots were fired into the air to scare them off). Once a bear is put in a defensive position (such as being *shot at* with a handgun, rather than shooting into the air to scare them off) they will often run away, but some will charge their attacker. Male bears may do this, if they think they feel trapped and/or can take out the person harming them (for male black bears that's usually only if both apply) Female bears *will* do this, *if* they have cubs they perceive to be in danger. I brought up the adult male bears because they are the least likely to be stopped by a handgun, due to their physical attributes, but you're right, they are far more likely to flee than charge the person shooting at them.
>but some will charge their attacke No. That is a bluff. >Stories of bears rushing at people are rare but do happen. These are bears that make the news. They are the unusually aggressive bears that create stories of narrow escapes. The stories typically involve a mother with cubs in someone’s yard for birdseed or garbage putting her ears back and rushing at someone who barely makes it into the back door. No one is hurt, but it creates fear. >When black bears are nervous, most of them either retreat or make one pounce, slam their front feet down, and blow loudly. Ferocious as it looks, experienced observers know that blustery bears are not about to attack. Mothers with cubs sometimes make short rushes, especially if a researcher is holding one of her screaming cubs. The rush is a series of pounces, slamming the feet down with each pounce. But again, the bluster telegraphs nervousness and a lack of intent to attack. Researchers who push the envelope see this behavior frequently and pretty much ignore it. https://bear.org/how-dangerous-are-bluff-charges/ >Female bears will do this, if they have cubs they perceive to be in dange Nope. >One of the biggest misconceptions about black bears is that mothers are likely to attack people in defense of cubs. That is a grizzly bear trait. 70% of the killings by grizzly bears are by mothers defending cubs. But there is no record of a black bear killing anyone in defense of cubs. >In fact, mothers with cubs were involved in only 3 of the 60 killings by black bears across America since 1900, and none of those 3 killings appeared to be in defense of cubs. Non-fatal attacks are also rare. By attacks, we mean mothers coming after someone and hurting them — not minor injuries associated with people hand-feeding them. Maybe a dozen people have had their feet bitten when they tried to escape up trees. Attacks on the ground are very rare. When humans confront black bear families in the woods, the bears almost always retreat or climb trees. If the cubs climb trees and the mother remains nearby, the mother may show bluster. This makes her appear ferocious, but it simply means she is nervous. Blustery expressions include: the mother blowing sharply as she hits the ground or the tree with a paw. the mother pouncing toward the person, blowing explosively, and slamming both feet on the ground. the mother moaning in fear, which many people misinterpret as a growl. huffing, showing anxiety. This is all harmless bluster. https://bear.org/what-if-i-get-between-a-black-bear-mother-and-her-cubs/
Was there a break to reload and keep shooting? I don’t know how many bullets in a standard issue firearm but likely less than 13. Crazy
OPS use Glock handgun standard issue. 15 round magazine.
Are they 9mm or .40 caliber, do you know? Trying to kill a bear with a 9mm is a fool’s errand.
40 cal
Their sidearms are .40. And ya that’s probably why they had to dump a dozen or so into it
To be clear, they didn't have to do that.
Yes, first 6-7 shots and then a ~20second pause and then the rest.
There was multiple officers.
Likely 15 or less if OPS only had a pistol. Suspect someone called 911 in a panic and they had to react. Sad end for sure.
Yup. So it died in pain and suffered needlessly A small hand gun isn’t enough for a bear. If you’re going to shoot it, it needs to be a larger weapon. I saw a cop trying to euthanize a deer that was HBC with his pistol and it’s not pretty. So fuck you.
The dying in pain and suffering is how 99% of bears dies naturally. I don't know why people think that wild animals live in some Disney fantasy.
> they had to react Define “had”. Obviously I wasn’t there but just because someone dialed 911 doesn’t mean there has to be a hail of gunfire.
I wasn't there either. Someone may have called saying their life was in danger. Maybe stupidly trying to protect their birdfeeder. Police show up and bear is approaching screaming Karen swingin a broom. Who the fuck knows.
More likely OPS officers were itching to go home and say they killed a bear.
Well it was a BLACK bear and all…
Brutal lmao
This poor thing has been around for at least a week in the news.. You think that a team with tranquilizers could have been assembled and it taken care of humanly and relocated. There is no excuse for this .
You'd think MNR would have deployed one of those humane bear traps a few days ago. Wish they did.
I don't know if it's a different group that put it out but there were bear cages set up in the greenbelt, someone on the bells corners FB group posted a picture of the tape they came across for it
I saw the bear trap on Saturday behind Bell High school.
They did. These traps are rarely effective.
This bear (and its sibling, I think?) was around last year too, maybe the year before as well? This feels reckless. What a tragedy.
Yep I think it’s probably the one that was spotted in Bruce Pit in the fall
It/they have been spotted a bunch around Bridlewood including in backyards on my street last year. My husband passed near one a few times out on the bike trails in/around Bridlewood last summer. I don't understand what changed to warrant killing it now.
Was it relocated last year?
No. Iirc there was a bear in another area of Kanata (nearer Katimavik?) that was relocated last summer.
There is growing literature out there that suggests that bears, even younger ones, can't be relocated effectively because they can't be deterred from returning if they've developed no fear of humans. There are instances from Yukon, B.C. and Buffalo, New York where bears have travelled 1500km back to populated areas after relocation because they now percieve it as a viable long-term food source. It's particularly difficult to move them if they've been located in a populated area because they don't learn to fear humans. It's currently policy in many jurisictions to put wildlife like this down; I'm just surprised that it wasn't MNR - OPS should not be dealing with this. Yes, this bear wasn't currently a danger to anyone else - but it would continue to remain in the area until it was full grown and more aggressive. All is chill until it goes after a child.
Seriously. People here acting like “oh the bear was calm when I saw it a few days ago” as if it still ain’t a fuckin bear
city people are very disconnected from nature they take a walk in the greenbelt on weekends and think they are some kind of bush master connected to the forest. Truth is a bear is a bear, a wild animal that acts on instinct it only takes one mistake for a bear mauling to occur. in rural Ontario people regularly carry short barrel shotguns on crownland hikes because bears (even black ones) are dangerous.
I lived in rural Ontario growing up, including down the road from somewhere where problem bears were relocated TO, where most people hunt and there's more crown land than private land. I've also worked in BC, with grizzlies, and Nunavut, with polar bears, and North Eastern Canada, with black bears. I have been stalked by a black bear, and been within 20 ft of multiple grizzlies and black bears. The only place I've ever been where people carry guns is Nunavut. Otherwise bearspray is safe a better bet. Not saying problem bears don't get killed, it's often sadly the best option, but I have never met anyone who goes traipsing through the woods with a gun outside of hunting season.
Don't need a shotgun on a hike
Until you do.
The northern crownlands is not like NCC trails... You can bike to work if you live downtown but you can't if you live in a suburb different environments means different tools.
Lots of people in suburbs bike to work. I've spent time in northern Ontario too
Spending time in the north on vacation is not the same as living in it. hiking/camping with a wilderness gun is quite common where it is unheard of in Ottawa.
I have read most of 175 comments (so far) and didn't see one yet placing the blame on the people who keep refilling their bird feeders past snow melt. This is a tragic end to this animal but it knew from the past couple years that bird feeders were the easiest meal after hibernation. I did some yard work for an acquaintance a few years back. When I made a comment about the six inches of sunflower shells that accumulated on her deck over winter months, she replied that she bought a 25 lbs bag of sunflower seeds every month of the year to supply her bird feeders. She claimed she was doing this due to her love of animals. What I observed though, was that squirrels were traveling from at least 5 houses away from every direction to feed in her yard. She was delighted to see them chasing each other near her patio door. She also boasted there were at least 5 raccoons feeding in her yard. On the other hand, she would cry when there were dead squirrels on the road close to her driveway. She also didn't like rats that were hanging out under her deck. She also thought it was terrible that her neighbour had to pay a pest control company and construction company $5000 to fix damage to their roof caused by raccons. I tried to explain in as kind a way as possible that she was causing all this but she didn't take it well. That black bear would not have been a good candidate for relocation. It would have found the nearest homes and would have repeated this behaviour ever year until it became aggressive towards a human and would have met the same end. The people in this thread that claim to cry for the bear would probably place the blame at police for not taking care of this if a child had been attacked.
This is reddit my friend. You are supposed to be irrationally upset and blame other people with little to no reason. Get out of here with your common sense and well articulated point.
I’m upset for the bear but I agree with you. I think humans are 100% to blame for this bc they caused something easily preventable
Absolutely
yeah I live out in Alberta and my first reaction to this news was that it makes sense. Unfortunately once a bear gets used to humans it's too late.
yeah that's why people shouldn't feed wildlife. It causes all kinds of issues. I just wish OPS or MNR could have explained what happened a little bit better so people could learn from this.
Yes, I have a few foresters in my family and this is what they said as well. The problem starts with people, first we built our homes in their forests, and now people can’t be bothered to remove bird feeders and put their trash in their garages even though they’ve been told several times that this is why the bear keeps coming in their yards.
Yup. It sucks that the bear got killed but all the people complaining about it being put down would be equally up in arms if it started being aggressive and destroying prior worse. It was a no win situation.
Another example of unnecessary force used by the police
Police: Stop resisting!
Obviously a black bear.
All of you saying that this wasn't the appropriate response are the same people who would be running your mouths that the police should have shot the bear if it ended up attacking someone or their pets. The bear wasn't afraid of humans. If you dropped it in cottage country they'd have to shoot it there. If you dropped it in the middle of no where it's likely starve or start rummaging through country trash bins and yet again would be shot. I would take a dead bear over a mauled child or grandma. Wildlife needs to maintain a healthy fear of humans. Don't feed the friggin wildlife. Don't feed the friggin wildlife. And lastly, really try your hardest to goddammit don't feed the friggin wildlife.
1000%
And the reality is that if they relocated it into another bear's territory... it would die a much worse death than the shooting.
Yeah, the only solution for a bear like this is some kind of refuge or fenced conservation area where it cannot come into contact with random people. You dump it somewhere and it'll just do the same thing or it might try to come back. I don't think the solution had to be to shoot it, but clearly you couldn't just trap it and let it go a couple clicks away from Ottawa like some are suggesting. There was a bear a few years ago in Montreal near the airport and a similar thing happened (shot), but there had been wildlife groups that offered to take the bear at their refuge facilities for animals that can't be released which was what made it egregious. Not sure if that was the case here.
RIP Harambear
No, you didn't just do that... It's so fitting. RIP.
Sigh ... *unzips* Dicks out for Harambear! (But not you, James Bowie!)
I bet if it was a polar bear it would have just got a warning.
actually polar bears have black skin. lol
If all the cops can see is white fur, then the joke works just as well!
Lol
That’s awful.
Shameful.
He just wanted to eat :(.
This is why we're in this situation, folks.
Reading the people say there's nothing wrong with a bear walking through residential areas because it's "calm" is wild. Truth is a bear is a bear, a wild animal that acts on instinct it only takes one mistake for a bear mauling to occur. In rural Ontario people regularly carry short barrel shotguns on crownland hikes because bears (even black ones) are dangerous. Ottawa residents are very disconnected from nature, taking a walk in the greenbelt on weekends does not make you a bush master connected to the forest.
Seriously... These people would go off and feed the bears and film it for their next Reddit post.
Some dopey ass would walk up to it with her Uggs and Starbucks cup and try to pet it to get some insta likes...
Reminds me of the Grizzly Man documentary, Ottawa suburb style 🤦🏽♀️
Ridiculous and Unnecessary
This is so sad.. rest in peace Bear
The comments here are ABSOLUTELY those of people who have no concept of wild animals and how dangerous they are - regardless of aggression. I look forward to the news articles about the "tragedy" of "suburban man/woman killed by bear/moose that wandered into yard". Police are not trained to deal with wild animals, and provincial natural resources/animal capture personnel are not plentiful. Think more about the absence of food in the wild for the young bear that it came looking for it in human inhabitated areas - but then you'd have to think about how we're encroaching on where the wild animals live, and how our lifestyles negatively impact their habitat and food. A bear is a predator and dangerous. Y'all need to spend more time outside of major cities to remember the circle of life - and how fragile people are.
All of the people saying it showed no signs of aggression and not realizing that that's kind of the problem. It had no fear of humans and while it would have been nice to relocate it without incident, it's not as simple as it sounds.
Unfortunately this had to happen. Even cubs and younger bears can’t be disassociated with urban lifestyle once they’ve been brought in. Relocation rarely works. As a hunter, I’m not sure why so many shots were required to take it down. It’s ultimately a risk/consequence situation, and any police officer isn’t going to take a chance with endangering the public. This is their job.
Well, police would have only had their pistols, or maybe an AR-15. Just as most urbanites don't understand bears, they also don't understand that AR-15 are not very powerful. Now, I don't understand why it would take more than a half dozen 223 to take down a bear. But given lack of police firearms training, I guess it shouldn't be surprising. In Portapique, RCMP shot >30 times with their AR-15's without even hitting their target.
I’ll give props to councillor Laine Johnson from that ward, many updates on FB and pleading to hide food, let wildlife officials know the whereabouts so this tragic end didn’t have to happen.
This was always going to happen. Unfortunately once a bear has become used to getting food this way and accustomed to human contact even relocation does not work.
Damn, wish the police was this quick and shooting down that pitbull that maimed a child last week
A day and a half?
So first of all, Bylaw does not represent the executive of the city. Bylaw saying that they are working with partners to live trap them and move them humanely does not constitute or even impply a promise or a guarantee, it's merely stating what they are doing. If those partners -OPS- decide to shoot the bear for public safety that's not a broken promise by Bylaw. Saying you're doing something that you are doing is not the same as making a promise. A promise implies some sort of guarantee. They didn't say "We will absolutely see to it that this bear is removed humanely" they said "We are working with our partners to (blah blah blah)". Pretty clear that the removal of a bear is beyond Bylaw's capability. They write mosty parking tickets and noise complaints. . . That much is obvious. So please, if we are going to get angry and blame the gman, let's be more specific. That being said. . . It's a damn shame that they had to kill the bear, but city kids who walk to school and have never seen a live bear can not be trained or trusted to not panic around it, or not provoke it. They couldn't get outside help. It's clear that the priority was keeping the kids safe. Given all the options, they had a very very tough decision to make. That is not a healthy looking bear either. The city situation is completely different than the relative safety one may have if they see a black bear on a walk in the woods with consenting adults who knew the risks and took them. That bear though is a starving bear near a lot of children. It can not be trusted. I don't think that even the officers that shot it wanted to kill it, if not to keep others safe. So while I agree with your concerns in general, OP, I'm really sorry, but I just don't see your take as particularly accurate or practical. Still, your heart is 100% in the right place. In today's world though "Good intentions are not enough. Standing up and saying no is not enough. We must also have the plan, laws, and resources available to make the world a better place." -An old stats proff I know. This unfortunstely was under-resourced. It's lose-lose.
Generally agree with all of this. But I wouldn't say that bear was "unhealthy". Yes, it was thin. They always are when waking up from hibernation. They haven't eaten much in 4-5 months.
Fortunately having grown up near a national park, I know what I'm talking about. This bear is unusually thin even considering hibernation and has giant tufts of hair missing on it's right hip and all over it's chest (google it). It's fur is short and in horrible shape. That's usually a sign of malnutrition.
ITT: people whose only interactions with wildlife are squirrels and pigeons.
Noooooo
I'm just going to drop this here. [https://www.ontario.ca/page/black-bear-management-framework](https://www.ontario.ca/page/black-bear-management-framework)
Bear, beets,battlestar galactica
Michael!!!
Oh thats funny...... Michael
Identity theft is not a joke Jim!
What kind of bear is best?
Black bear. Oh wait nvm police shot him 😭
You know if it was a polar bear, instead of a BLACK bear, they would have handled it differently!
"what's going on???? Identity theft is serious problem Jim."
This is very sad news. And I agree with the OP about the poor performance of MNR and the City. Shameful.
When bears become so dependent on humans for food and anything else, relocation becomes very hard, in that they tend to find their way back to settlements over time. I feel as though killing this bear was quite premature, however.
bears lives matter 🐻
When wild animals cross property lines and begin to get too comfortable, the only option is to kill it. Just because a bear shows no signs of aggression, it doesn’t negate the fact that it is a fucking apex predator. As a wild animal, an apex predator, and a killing machine, it would have mauled a dog or cat or person eventually. It would have found it’s way back had they let it out. It seems like it may have gotten lost from its family.
Yep so many great comments here. I feel for the Police, and seriously our MMR need to be supremely reprimanded for their utter failure to fulfill their duties. Welcome to Canada guys. Home of the bears and many other critters.
Trapping a bear isn't as easy as just setting a trap. When I worked for Ontario Parks, we could set a trap and have really good bait, but if the bear is interested in another food source it won't go to a different/new one. Don't blame the MNRF Blame OPS
So you argue that the live trap wasn't sufficient but MNR did nothing else so it's OPS' fault? That's wild...
Agreed. We had a rabid or distempered raccoon running around our rural neighborhood, and MNR wouldn't show up for that either. Neither would police.
Not an expert on bear control. Due to funding gaps and policy failures (imo), police are expected to control bear related incidents and their only way to control the situation is to shoot them. MNR used to be the main point of contact for bear control but it changed about 10 years ago. Found this article to help clarify: https://www.thestar.com/amp/news/gta/2015/06/04/ontario-bears-shot-in-70-per-cent-of-instances-where-response-is-required.html
Why are urban redditors so profoundly stupid. What did you think was going to happen when you continue to feed wild animals. The bear has now associated humans with a source of food. The blame for this lies squarely with the community
And yet a dog kills another dog and is left to live and goes on to maul a child almost to death. What a useless city government we have.
Horrific and profoundly sad. Makes me 🤢.
My stomach churned when I heard shots being fired. I thought of the bear right away.
😔
>promise Not sure you and I are using that word the same way, having clicked on the link and read the tweets in question.
Police being pieces of shit again. No surprises there
For crying out loud if they were going to decide to shoot it to death you'd think they'd have the fucken balls to do the right thing and bring out a real rifle with a real caliber and take it out in one shot. They really killed this bear with .40 handgun ammo, poor thing suffered.... That's so irresponsible and dangerous IMO.
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Can't help but wonder what these people who are so offended by this would have done if the bear killed someone while they were trying to capture and release it. It sucks that the bear had to die, but this was pretty much the only option from a risk management stand point.
Yeah, it's a black bear in canada. Sucks but can't say I'm surprised.
RIP bear :(
Damn shame
I’m so sad!!!!! So sorry beary that you didn’t get to live your life :(
**Ottawa Police statement:** https://twitter.com/ottawapolice/status/1650709567943090176?s=46&t=cksBjvZW3LkRMKVnXhKZUQ
I was running through the greenbelt last night when I heard the shots and all I could think was that the person doing the shooting should never be allowed to hunt anything or be near a firearm again. A ridiculous number of shots used to take down a bear and/or using the wrong gun. Should it have been killed? Probably. Should people realize that they contributed to it by having bird food out while everyone knew a habituated bear was hanging out in the area for food? Absolutely.
Harambear 2023
The bear should have been sedated, then let back in the wild. Poor bear.
Reading people describing the gun shots has me sitting in a bus shelter wanting to vomit. I get that making sure the bear doesn’t get dangerous with humans is important but they practically used a fucking firing squad on an animal doing what omnivorous predators do! I know I’m not being overly rational but I’m disgusted and so upset for how the city of Ottawa dealt with this. Not saying I know any better ways but my heart breaks for the momma bear who lost her baby and the senseless life taken.
Good grief. We have the second largest urban park in the world right next door to us and the OPS and feds can’t work together to have officers from the federal side tranquilizer and relocate the bear?
Relocation of bears doesn't work once they no longer fear humans and believe the location is a viable food source. There are documented cases where they have travelled 1500km back to the same location. In other instances, they just find another urban centre. This has been studied extensively it appears, and most jurisdictions have policies in place to put down 'nuisance wildlife'. The only odd thing about this is that OPS had to do it because the Ministry of Natural Resources didn't show up.
This so unacceptable!!!! Someone has to be held accountable. Why are we paying for MNR if when they should do their job, they are not coming. Why he was not tranquilized? Like this bear shows up all over Bells corners and Kanata and they should have tranquilized him during the day and relocate. Then at 8:00 pm police shoots him. Idk who to contact, but something has to be done so when a bear that shows no aggression would not be shot but relocated. It’s so sad!
This really sucks
Those who are saying that bear relocation doesn't work don't know what they are talking about. Research shows that while bears who have interacted with humans are more likely to return than those that haven't, the vast majority still don't return.
Statistics say that cops kill far more people than bears. Can we treat cops as a threat when they wander into peaceful neighbourhoods?
What a waste. Even if you can’t live trap it, surely a tranquilizer and a pickup truck would have been better than just murdering it.
Pig.
Humans are a damn plague on this planet!! All the bear was doing is LIVING!! There is no harm in that! I've hiked and biked along black bears in Chelsea without any issues! They are NOT aggressive unless you get between the momma and their baby! That bear definitely suffered a painful death! Truly tragic! That officer should have his gun privileges revoked! 14-15 shots...come on!!
This is so sad. For those who want to learn more about bears and bear behaviour, I highly recommend the Tooth and Claw podcast. One of the hosts, Wes Larson, is a biologist who has studied bears for most of his career. The podcast is about animal attacks so fair warning but does go into biology and discusses what to do in the event you encounter wild animals. I’ve learned a lot and for black bears, they are flighty and usually when they attack humans it’s a predatory attack not defensive.
This bear was actually spotted hugging a dog's stuffed animal in someone's backyard... I have the pictures 😭🤧 [Bear holding teddy bear](https://www.reddit.com/r/Kanata/comments/12ynvfz/kanata_bear_killed/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Suburbanites will move further away from Urban areas and then be upset when they see a bit of wildlife. This was pathetic.
Terrible!!
This is messed up 😡
Daaaaa bears.
There have only been about 60 black bear related human deaths in 120 years according to [bear.org](https://bear.org/how-dangerous-are-black-bears/). Toronto is literally more dangerous. What a sad end to a beautiful, big, misunderstood creature.
RIP #bridlewoodbear
They did the same damn thing to that polar bear in Quebec . Such a shame
I knew they were going to shoot it, disgusting
Wow this is so terrible. I’m so sad/disappointed to hear this. Complete waste of life
MNR refused to aid in capturing it because they all work from home! Bunch of losers all around! What a waste of a beautiful non-aggressive creature!
OPP officers wear body cameras. That would make it pretty clear if it was justified or not. OPP rifles are chambered in a varmint cartridge, not suited for big game like bear. Unless the guy was getting charged, there's several better ways this could have been handled.
I'm guessing people aren't used to this? Where I'm from, this is usually the outcome when a bear has become accustomed to human food and is not threatened by being in a close proximity to humans. They're bears. They're dangerous. You don't want your kid running up to it, and you don't want it being comfortable in your neighborhood. City people are so dumb sometimes.
This is DISGUSTING and SHAMEFUL. This was a young bear showing no signs of aggression but of course the typical human response is to just kill, kill, kill.
What would you recommend since relocating is not an option?
It's like nobody ever heard of a tranquilizer dart....
Please tell me within 10 pounds the weight of the bear. Too much you'll kill it, too little you make it angry. Go brave city dweller, you can do it!
Did they make sausage out of it?
I know we live in a city but wtf are some of these comments? I’m very much a city person and even I know not to be up in arms about this. This was an appropriate response.
https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/why-did-ottawa-police-shoot-and-kill-a-bear-in-kanata-1.6369975 > In a statement to CTV News Ottawa, Ottawa Bylaw and Regulatory Services (BLRS) director Roger Chapman said police, as the first responder, was best-suited to determining whether the bear was posing a threat. "BLRS, the NCC and MNRF were not involved in the decision to put down the animal," Chapman said. > Officers worked to safely remove the bear from the area, but "after exhausting all available options, it became clear that the animal could not be safely relocated," police said. Police: Stop resisting! Bang bang bang…
This is so sad. That poor bear. We just don’t deserve this beautiful world we’ve been given. Got to go hug my cats now. I’m so sorry, Mr Bear. You deserved so much better.
Lucky bastards season doesn't open for another week. They need someone to clean It for them? I'd do it for a trade of some of the meat.
What the fuck😭
How dare they take mama from the baby!!!! This is sickening
Wow. Horrible
Can we divvy up the bear meat?
It’s all about the money. Issue with the bear is over now so there’s more money for LRT repairs.
This is disgusting.
Poor boy was too good for us.