An Elphinstone resident says his efforts to guide a bear out of his neighbourhood and back into the bush last week, were hindered by residents persisting in taking photos of the bear with their cell phones.
“Just know that if you're encountering a bear, there's a way to deal with it to try to keep the bear safe so you don't have to kill it and you can move them along with some noise and gentle persuasion,” Michael Maser told Coast Reporter. “So that’s what I offered to do.”
Maser was at home last week, when a neighbour at the end of his block told him there was a bear in their kitchen, which had entered through an open door. When he arrived, the bear was rifling through their fridge and freezer, pulling food out before “chowing down” in the middle of the kitchen floor.
“I said, we need to make some serious noise if you want a chance of getting that bear out,” says Maser. “So, she got some pots and I yelled and we made some good noise from the front door and the bear did leave through the side door and to the patio.”
He says the bear moved on a bit, but stopped because it was still eating. Maser told his neighbour to go back into the house and close and lock the door. Moments later, the bear finished his snack and headed back to the same door and began pulling on it.
“It was a big bear, a good 350-pounder. So, I said, we got to make some more noise or it's going through your door,” says Maser. “I'd been there maybe 10 minutes and all of a sudden there's people showing up and everybody's got their phone out. Then she's got her camera out and she's FaceTiming her mother. And I said, you know, I encourage you to put the phone down and pay attention here. I’m trying to keep the bear out of your house.”
Maser says they made a bunch of noise and managed to get the bear off her property, but it immediately headed into her neighbour’s carport, before slowly heading down the road. As Maser moved a little closer to the bear, still banging two pieces of wood together, he says it gave him a few “dirty looks,” while it continued to lumber down the road.
“And people were just showing up with their cell phones. I encouraged a couple of people and said, ‘Hey. please. Do you mind? I want to stay safe, and I'm trying to keep the bear safe, so don't get any closer,’” says Maser. “And got it up to Pratt Road, which is a busy road, but I got it across Pratt Road.”
He says that’s when a woman spotted the bear and started screaming, which forced the bear to turn around and head toward Sunnyside Road. By that time, Maser was blocking traffic to help get the bear safely across the road with an idea that if he could get it to the forested trail at the end of Sunnyside, it would have a chance of getting to the ravine and disappear.
“Because that was the only chance, I thought, that this bear was going to come out of this alive,” says Maser.
He says the bear was still wandering from house-to-house, so he warned people as they went along. Maser adds at this time, he was still making noise behind the bear, when a car pulled up and asked him what was he doing.
“I said, I'm moving a bear long — and there's the bear — and they just immediately get their cell phone out and start backing their car up,” says Maser. “And I said, would you mind please, like you are actually forcing that bear to turn around and I'm trying to stay safe and keep the bear safe and they said, ‘No, I just want to get some pictures.’ I said, stop doing what you're doing. You're blocking the bear and sending it my way. And that's what they were doing. And it was all I could do to get these people to stop.”
Maser says he eventually managed to get the bear a little further up Sunnyside.
“But, by now I was on this for about 40-45, minutes, and now it's twilight, and I said, you know, my work here is done, and left the bear.”
Master notes it was the night before garbage collection day in the area and, despite common knowledge to not place garbage cans outside until the morning due to bear activity, there were cans lining the streets, which the bear was attempting to get into.
“And once I left, that bear would have been on its own, doing its own thing. I hope it survives, but once it's been in someone's kitchen and knows where the fridge is, chances are it'll go back and that will probably shorten that bear's life,” says Maser. “A bear that helps itself to your fridge is a dead bear too,” he adds, in reference to the adage, “a fed bear is a dead bear.”
The Coast Reporter attempted to reach two conservation officers and the Sunshine Coast Bear Alliance, but neither returned messages prior to press time.
