Bear perpetrates two 'home invasions' in Castlegar
By Castlegar Source
Castlegar RCMP Sgt. Laurel Mathew says two Castlegar residents experienced a young black bear up-close-and-personal last night (Aug. 27) in the south end of Castlegar.
“At 9:15 p.m., Castlegar RCMP received a call from a man on 12 Avenue, stating that there was a bear in his house,” she said. “He had been sitting at his computer, with the patio door open, when he noticed a young black bear enter. He ran out of the house and opened other doors, and called police and conservation. The bear had left the house prior to police and conservation’s arrival and was not located.”
But the miscreant Bruin (assuming it was the same one, which is probable but not proven) wasn’t yet done with paying house calls.
“At around 9:30 p.m., an off-duty RCMP officer was working in his garage, several blocks from where the first encounter occurred, and had the door open,” Mathew explains. “A vehicle pulled up, stopped, and someone in the car told the officer that there was a bear in the garage with him, just on the other side of the parked car. The officer looked over the hood of his car, and came face to face with ‘a big fuzzy head’. The bear noticed him at the same time, and ambled out of the garage.”
Mathew said that, while bears can look quite cute, it’s unwise to forget they are also potentially very dangerous.
“No one was attacked or harmed by the bear, but police remind people to be alert to the possible presence of bears, and to remember that they are wild animals and can be unpredictable,” she said.
