Whitehorse Daily Star

Bear was aggressive toward woman, unleashed dog

An adult black bear sow was shot Sunday evening in the Whistle Bend subdivision

By Chuck Tobin on July 25, 2017

An adult black bear sow was shot Sunday evening in the Whistle Bend subdivision after displaying aggressive behaviour toward a woman out walking with her dog.

Conservation officer Aaron Koss-Young said today the officer who shot the bear assessed the situation.

Because of the animal’s aggressive behaviour and the risk it posed, the officer decided that euthanizing the sow instead of attempting to relocate it was best.

Officers do apply a risk analysis in those situations, Koss-Young told the Star.

He said the sow was shot before the officer became aware that she also had a cub.

The sow, he said, was in a tree for some time before it was shot, and there was no sign of the cub until afterward.

Koss-Young estimates the cub was one or two years old, and the officer decided to let it go as he felt it has a good chance of making it on its own.

It’s another reminder of the importance of being bear-aware and properly managing attractants, he said.

In this case, the woman was out walking her dog on the trails near the pumphouse toward the back of the subdivision when the bear approached her and displayed aggressive behaviour.

The woman backed out but the bear followed, he said.

Koss-Young said the woman was not carrying bear spray. Nor did she have her dog on a leash.

Being bear-aware means carrying bear spray, making noise as you walk and keeping your dog on the leash, he said.

Koss-Young said it’s possible the sow was reacting to the dog as a perceived threat against her cub.

The bear killed Sunday was the eighth in the greater Whitehorse district this year and the 40th in the Yukon.

The number of bears shot is unusually high this year, the conservation officer acknowledged.

Koss-Young said the bears have been shot either by conservation officers or residents in defence of life or property, and there was one incident of an RCMP officer having to kill a bear in Beaver Creek.

Most were black bears.

Environment Yukon records show there were 23 bears shot in the Yukon last year, of which eight were grizzly bears and 15 were black bears

In the seven years from 2010 through to the end of 2016, 2012 was the worst year, when 61 bears were shot – 51 black bears and 10 grizzlies – and the 23 last year was the fewest.

The average number of bears over the seven years was 38 – 30 black bears and eight grizzlies.

The year-end summaries include reports of bears shot by hunters in defence of life and property.

Koss-Young emphasized:

• not properly managing attractants kills bears;

• not properly storing garbage in a bear-proof container or in a closed area like a shed;

• not providing protective fencing for chickens coops and other livestock;

• not using bird feeders in the summer; and

• not properly cleaning up spilled seeds in the spring.

Bird feeders and seeds left on the ground from the previous winter are a huge attractant, Koss-Young said.

He said a number of the bears shot in the Whitehorse district this year were drawn to bird feeders or the seeds on the ground left over from winter.

Birds, he insisted, do not need to be fed in the summer, as ample food is available.

Feeders should be taken down in the spring and ground below cleaned up, he said.

Comments (18)

Up 11 Down 0

Groucho d'North on Jul 31, 2017 at 10:58 am

And again wildlife pays the ultimate price for people who do not control their dogs appropriately. Back in the spring, a deer died on the river because of an uncontrolled dog, and now there is one less bear for the same reason. I suggest that a healthy fine be created for all dog owners who demonstrate poor judgement which permits their dog(s) to cause injury or death to a wild animal either directly, indirectly and or by Conservation Officer.

People need to take responsibility for their failures...because on this present course, we will eventually run out of bears to blame.

Up 12 Down 1

Josey Wales on Jul 29, 2017 at 12:03 am

Hey Carly...
In regards to what I do not understand, I never broke anyone's circle of life in my lifetime. Just in the last year or so, we had nine circles broken.
Statistics suggest us non natives had very little to do with most of them.
...so your assertions as to respecting the circle?
Has a few holes in it, I get the point though.

Up 5 Down 30

Carly on Jul 28, 2017 at 11:51 am

Why don't non aboriginal ppl not understand mother earth and the circle of life? What is so hard? Our ppl's history has no bear attacks that I've ever heard. " Just kill anything in the way, that will solve it."

Up 18 Down 7

Mark Ackerman on Jul 27, 2017 at 7:48 pm

This is pathetic risk assessment on behalf of a trigger happy CO with the easy way out for his job to be made easier. I'm no CO but what he should have done was stayed there keeping the bear in the tree and telling the woman to get the hell out of the area while he secured the scene. The bear would have stayed there until it felt safe to come down. He could then have sat in his truck if he was scared. While using a tranq dart while bear was close enough down not to get hurt,then shoot it. If cub showed up before it got down, then put it to sleep first. Not rocket science here. I think he was quick to take easy way out for himself. That being said, I wasn't there so it would be nice if a witness would come forward and give their account of the situation.

Up 17 Down 5

Jasper on Jul 27, 2017 at 5:29 pm

Can somebody please tell me how a bear in a tree poses any danger.
That's where they go when they feel in danger themselves.
It's probably more likely that the bear went up the tree because of the dog.
Which means the dog did good and the bear went to safety. Everything is OK.
All what really needed was everybody go home and Mister Ursus would have been on his Way. Who knows that I could of seen that bear sometime and really make my day.

Up 19 Down 9

Mike Grieco on Jul 26, 2017 at 11:01 pm

Larger than life, killing made easy and Con[ver]sation Officers....

Up 24 Down 4

Charles on Jul 26, 2017 at 5:49 pm

Getting a bit tired of these shot bear reports. New people, in new areas, making new noise over things that long timers value and have learned to live with. Either this is bad reporting or something is very wrong. The sow was shot because of her aggressive behavior; the woman backed out but the bear followed; the bear was in a tree for some time before she was shot .... couple of questions come to mind: did the sow follow the woman up the tree? Did the sow display aggression from the tree by p**ing on the folk below? If she was up a tree for a while, get the woman and her irresponsibly unleashed dog out of there and leave the bear be in her tree! I am not a CO, but my first thought would be it was possible she was protecting a cub or cubs. A fine risk analysis done in this situation - not!

Up 14 Down 4

Salar on Jul 26, 2017 at 5:21 pm

Likely on the paved trail too.
There were less bears coming into town when folks could ride atvs and motorbikes on the 'trails'.
You can't even teach stupidity like that....but what do I know, I don't know wilderness like the walkers do.

Up 9 Down 20

stu nanson on Jul 26, 2017 at 3:26 pm

Please Jose

The COs have a very difficult job, have some compassion.
If that bear became aggressive and hurt someone can you imagine the outcry and investigation and finger pointing. Someone caused the problem and drugging and relocating a bear usually does not work. So easy to be judgmental Jose.

A difficult choice and a tough job. Now to make the leap about dealing with problem people, this is not Russia under Stalin or China under Mao or Cambodia under Pol Pot. Stop trying to shock us please. I just did it based on sad but true history.
If you do not like it here move back to Ontario or Arkansas or wherever the hell you originated from.

Up 23 Down 8

Josey Wales on Jul 26, 2017 at 10:58 am

Gee...another dead bear?
Folks could you imagine how nice our community's could be AGAIN if dispatching "aggressive" and "troubled" Trevor the many humans were as normal as this repetitive pattern.
Good thing bear cannot communicate with lawyers....eh?

Up 34 Down 6

June Jackson on Jul 25, 2017 at 7:39 pm

Of course another bear was shot..does any wildlife make it out alive?

Up 37 Down 4

mary laker on Jul 25, 2017 at 6:04 pm

This is all completely ludicrous. 'No sign of the cub', until right after he shot its mother. Bear sitting in a tree, but it's too aggressive to live. Forty dead bears, killed by Yukoners 'defending their lives or property'. Sure.

And I love how the CO's use the word 'euthanized'. No, the reporter is correct: shot. You shot a healthy mother bear who was sitting in a tree. You did not 'euthanize' anything. It was neither painless, nor to end suffering.

"to kill (a person or animal) painlessly, especially to relieve suffering from an incurable illness."

Up 43 Down 6

Gail McLay on Jul 25, 2017 at 5:52 pm

Firstly the woman didn't take proper steps when walking in the area and secondly the bear being in a Tree doesn't sound too aggressive to me. The article is probably correct in assuming the bear was thinking the dog could hurt her cub and acting DEFENSIVELY not agressively. Shame, shame, shame. How many more bears will be killed this year?????

Up 38 Down 10

Michelle on Jul 25, 2017 at 4:53 pm

I do not understand why so many bears are being killed vs being relocated. Just because a human and bear cross paths, that is not a reason to kill it. When conservation officers arrived, the bear was in a tree so obviously not a threat. The bear followed her aggressively. What does that even mean? if the bear was a real danger, it would have attacked. Since it did not, this bear could have and should have been relocated. There have been too many stories of Bears being shot just because they came into our space. We don't shoot people who go into the bears domain. We just keep expanding our space and kill any bears that use to live there. Just easier and less expensive to kill than to relocate and use an excuse it was "acting aggressively"

Up 41 Down 9

Max Mack on Jul 25, 2017 at 4:23 pm

Our "hero" COs have killed yet another animal to protect a "nature lover" while simultaneously placing the blame at the feet of everybody else but the woman (and her dog) or the CO in question. First, it was "stalking wolves". Now, "aggressive bears".

The woman had no bear spray or other bear deterrants, and her dog was off-leash.
The same people insisting on paved walking trails and refusing to allow motorized ATVs in city limits (or anywhere, really) so they can enjoy the "wilderness city" are the very people who also insist on sanitizing that very environment of every potential animal threat. COs and YTG/city bureaucrats are equally to blame for this ridiculous policy.

And, blaming Whitehorse residents in this case for not "managing attractants" is just pathetic.

Up 32 Down 11

Jasper on Jul 25, 2017 at 3:54 pm

So another Bear gets shot caused by Human stupidity. I sure hope this person is getting a fine as it is City by Law to have your Dog leashed while walking it.
How many more Bears have to be killed before people understand that the warnings from the Conservation Officers about leaving garbage in your yard or anywhere else in the near bush where you live will attract a bear eventually.
I think all these home owners that leave garbage like I saw in one of your stories in Copper Ridge should be fined also. As for the dog owner that called the COs I hope you feel safe now to walk your puppy on a Leash. But at what cost?

Up 21 Down 3

Clean Up on Jul 25, 2017 at 3:37 pm

I honestly never even thought about the bird seed being an attractant. Although I have very little in my yard and my yard has a tall fence and no other attractants, I will go home and immediately tend to this.

Up 33 Down 15

Francis Pillman on Jul 25, 2017 at 2:52 pm

The only threat I see are humans. The poor bear probably had cubs. Day by day I value an animals life over humans. Call me whatever you want, I really don't care.

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