Black bear roaming Newmarket backyards shot dead by police

York Regional Police have killed a black bear that had been roaming suburban Newmarket, Ont., about 50 kilometres north of Toronto,over the past several days.

Officers encircled the bear in the backyard of a home on London Road, near YongeStreet and Davis Drive, around 7 a.m. ET.

They used loud noises to get the bear to climb a nearby tree as they waited for officials from the Ontario Ministryof Natural Resources and Forestrywho were supposed to arrive around 8:45 a.m.,but were apparently late.

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Police said they were forced to shoot the bear after it began climbing down from the tree. Officerswere concerned because many children in the neighbourhood were walking to school.

"Bear began coming down from a tree and became a risk to peoplein the area. Officers have shot the bear due to having no otheroptions," the force tweeted shortly after the incident.

"Officers do not havetranquilizersor other options for dealingwith wildlife. We could not let the bear harm a person while waitingfor MNR [Ministry of Natural Resources]."

Residents frustrated

Some residents who were watching the incident unfold from a nearby street expressed frustration that the Ministry of Natural Resources had been aware of the bear for several days, but wasunable to send anyone to the scene on time to tranquillize and transport the bearto another location.

John Almond, a supervisor with the ministry,said he receiveda call from police at his home in Bradfordon Mondayaround 6:20 a.m. ET and immediately began preparing to travelto Newmarket.

"We have a lot of equipment that has to come and we have a lot of staff that need to be mobilized," he told reporters outside the property where the bear was killed,as some local residents berated him from behind news cameras.

He added that ministry staffcould not attempt to "chemically immobilize" and move the bear earlier because it would have had to be stationary for long enough to respond, but this particular bear was moving around a lot until Mondaymorning when police cornered it.

'Terrible and wrong'

The bear caused a stir on social mediaover the weekend as residents in the area posted photos and video online. On Monday, people took to Twitter and other platforms to decry the bear'sdeath as unnecessaryand criticize police for not trying to subduethe animal first.

"It was out there for more than24hrsand didn't do a thing. Letanimal services deal with it. This is just terrible and wrong," @poisonivy2425 wrote on Twitter.

"Unimpressed withnewmarket@YRPand the killing of the #newmarketbear. Killing him/her wasn't the answer," said @SicilianaBeauty.

A few came to police's defence, saying the safety of humans mustcome first.

"Bear was coming down the tree - House500mfrom elementaryschool - kids were walking to school and in playground safety first #newmarketbear," @dunk14said.

Monday's shooting had some expressing concerns about the fate ofa peacock that hasbeen on the loose since it escaped from a Torontozoo last week.

"Look out #HighPark#peacock @PeelPoliceMedia are shootinganimals today #Toronto #newmarketbear," one person tweeted.

The peacock went unseen for partof the weekend, but CBC's Peter Armstrong saw the peacock at around noon on Monday near a restaurant on Roncesvalles Avenue.

A city spokeswoman said staff were planning to set out a feedingstation for the peacock in local parks in order to draw him to alocation where he could be contained.

"The bird is frightened by all of the attention and has beenselecting roof tops and trees to perch," said Nancy MacSween."Oncegrounded, we will try to corral into corner or channel and secure."