Brackendale residents and passersby were dismayed by a scene involving a sedated bear falling 40 feet to the ground as her two cubs clung to a tree high above.
"She fell from very high," said Brackendale resident Francine Moquin. "It was upsetting. I've only seen this on TV."
On Halloween afternoon, Sunday (Oct. 31), just as dozens of children were preparing to rush around collecting candy in the family neighbourhood, the bruin brood was spotted on the roof of a shed climbing an adjacent tree.
Squamish conservation officer Dave Jevons arrived at the lot next to the Petro-Canada on Government Road around 2 p.m. with off duty Surrey conservation officer Alex Desjardins who happened to be at the Squamish range at the time of the call.
They first attempted to disperse the bears using a shotgun with rounds of bean bags, then cracker shells were shot above them.
The noise got the sow onto the ground where she was shot with a tranquilizer dart, but the officers had trouble on their hands when she climbed 40 feet up another tree just before "she went out cold," said Jevons.
The officers called the fire department for use of a fire truck ladder to reach the bear.
"Our concern was about the bear coming down in the dark," said Jevons. "If it wasn't Halloween, if it wasn't for the public safety aspect of kids in the street after dark, we would have taken a less urgent approach."
Both officers scaled the ladder, and with Desjardins just an arm's length away from securing the bear with a rope, the sow fell - much to the shock of onlookers.
"The CO was up there, had his hand on her neck and was about to rope her and then all the drugs finally kicked in and she fell down," said nearby resident Patrick Gagne.
But Squamish resident Bruce Wilson said a different sightline afforded him a better take on the situation.
"I was 90 degrees around the corner so I could see it very clearly."
According to Wilson, Desjardins grabbed the bear by the scruff of the neck and actually pulled the bear off the tree
"Unless the guy was Hercules, there was no way he could lift a 500 pound bear," said Wilson. "If they had put the ladder under the bear then it would have been fine," he said. "It was three feet away."
Bystanders were upset by the sight of blood but that blood was from the dart, not from the fall, said Jevons, who added there were a lot of bushes and brush to break her fall and upon inspection, the sow suffered no apparent injuries.
The COs and firefighters lifted the unconscious bear into the trap while her two small cubs remained in the tree, making distressed noises.
"We want them to go to Mom," Jevons told the crowd. "We're trying to get them into the trap which - I hate to say - won't happen with so many people here."
The crowd of 40 or so people immediately dispersed but the cubs still needed to be darted.
"It's preferable if they go on their own accord but we were losing light," said Jevons.
After waiting an hour, Jevons transported the bears to the conservation office compound where they spent the night.
"We don't like moving them while they're out cold," he said. "They roll around in the trap, and can break teeth so we wait until they have enough mobility and strength to support themselves."
When Jevons went back the next morning he said the sow in the trap seemed healthy, mobile "and a little pissed off."
"She was bluff charging me from within the trap."
The bears were given a short distance relocation just outside Squamish and the sow came out of trap "sprinting," said Jevons, with no apparent injuries or limping. Both cubs were fine.
Wilson has his doubts.
"I hope it's not a PR thing they're putting out to make it look like it's all OK when it really wasn't," he said. "If that bear has internal injuries, it's going to die slowly and so will her cubs."
Jevons said he hopes the relocation will be successful. One recently relocated bear reappeared two days later and, after showing signs of aggression, was euthanized. He said he's hoping this won't be the case with the sow and cubs.
"It's time they're going to den" he said. "Hopefully they curl up and go to sleep and stay out of trouble."
