CALGARY — A garbage-loving bear has been nabbed by Fish and Wildlife officers at a Calgary landfill.
Officials say the cinnamon-coloured black bear was spotted by staff members at the Spyhill dump on Monday afternoon.
Spokesman Corey Colbran says they’re used to see wildlife, but it’s usually coyotes or deer.
He says it’s the first time he can think of that they’ve seen a bear.
The bear will be released back into the wild.
Fish and Wildlife officers put a tranquilizer dart into the bear and then waited for it to take effect.
“It went almost according to plan, when we darted it, about four and a half minutes in, the bear started falling out of the tree, and it actually got hung up by its neck so I had to climb up the tree in order to grab it, unhook its neck, then I was able to lower it bit by bit down,” said Fish and Wildlife officer Mark Hoskin. “We’ve put it into a steel trap where we’ll take it into ... a mountainous area to be released.”
Hoskin says the plan is to take the bear to a relocation site near Canmore where it will be released back into the wild.