Black bear on the loose, damaging property in Conne River

Conne River has a problem with a bear in the community and not for the first time, either.

"It's a constant thing, every year," says Greg Jeddore, forestry manager at Miawpukek First Nation.

Jeddoreis waiting for the provincial wildlife department to help get rid of the big, hungry nuisance, which has been tearing into garbage and damaging property in the Newfoundland community.

"The bear's been a nuisance for the last couple of weeks, even. In and out," he said of the animal.

"We try to drive it out with the guardians with our bear bangers, so that kind of works for a bit. He gets driven away and then he gets back."

Today, the sightings reached a boiling point.

"There were some phone calls again this morning saying that the bear was on there, tearing up the garbage," Jeddore said. "One of them actually was my brother."

Jeddore says he'll need some assistance to help protect his community. The community is talking with the wildlife department about potentially putting out a bear trap, he said, but there are concerns about the children and domestic animals in the area.

"We have to try and make the public aware that if we put a bear trap here, you have to keep your kids away, and you have to put your animals inside," he said.

Preventing future problems

Jeddorehas contacted wildlife, but they won't be back in Conne River until the afternoon. He hopes the bear can be tranquilized or trapped, depending on what is the safest option for the community.

Either way, Jeddorehopes the "nuisance" bear can be dealt with before the end of Monday so the community can relax. Going forward, behaviour changes like waiting until pick-up day to put out trash might prevent this and other wild animals from returning, he said.

"You gotta understand that where we live, we'resurrounded by trees. We're kind of built in their territory ... in their backyard," Jeddore said.

"So all we gotta do is try and adjust."

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