More bears roam into town

Ken Johnston
Editor

The danger was bear-ly contained last Wednesday when a number of wild bears strayed into town.

Reports of a bear in town started early that morning with sitings in the River Ave. East area. By lunch time that bear had moved through the school area to the 300 block area of First Street.

Lunch was what the bear was after. It eventually ended up in Pam and Blaine Ivall’s yard eating apples off their tree. The town crew was summoned to the scene and they brought a bear trap with them. The animal was frightened by the crowd that had gathered to watch it and that saw it climb the tree in Lena Tesarsky’s tree next door.

The town crew quickly backed the trap in and then erected a snow fence around the tree and the trap. While the trap had been baited with grease, someone on the scene thought it wise to place some apples in the trap.

However the apples were not put in far enough to get the bear to climb in and trip the door shut behind it.

The bear stood up on its back legs and took the apples out one by one and proceeded to eat them contently. Town Foreman Bob Jenson was worried that it was going to have a full stomach and not go for the bait at the back of the trap.

As the apples dwindled away the bear appeared to be getting full. It showed little interest for the grease so town crewman Leroy Hancharyk threw some more apples deeper into the trap. The bear tried to make work of the fence a couple of times and the crew scared him back. Eventually he went after the apples deep inside the trap and crewman Dan Godin using a rake tripped the door closed behind the bear.

The bear growled and clawed at the end of the trap wanting out. A little while later the town granted its wish. They transported it north of town several miles and let it go.

Several kids were on the scene and had to be warned back sternly. Officials remind people that the bears are not only wild but are usually hungry and are very dangerous.

Another report that day had a bear sited on Little Street.

While there have been many reports of nuisance bears across the region lately this is only the second time this summer that bears have been sited in Rainy River. The last time was in June when a bear had to be shot at Hannam Park.

George Thompson, a former Conservation Officer with the Ministry of Natural Resources said Friday that he expects the numbers of bear sitings to rise in the weeks to come as the bears start to feel the need to beef up for winter.