Large bear spotted in Rainbow Lake

animal-animal-photography-bear-213988-jpg

 

A “fairly large” bear has been spotted roaming the Town of Rainbow Lake.

Acting CAO Rourke Card says the Town is keeping track of the location of the bear, but so far it isn’t causing any trouble in the community.

“It’s quite a large bear,” says Card. “He’s been moseying around the transfer station, kind of moving his way back and forth across town. He’s not a nuisance yet – hasn’t been getting into any garbage. Other than that, we’re monitoring and keeping track of our sightings.”

Card notes Rainbow Lake has its fair share of bears that wander into town, but lately there’s been a drop in local bear sightings.

“Usually the mid-summer is our peak time for bear problems. We haven’t seen a bear in a number of weeks until this one. But again, we’re monitoring it, and if we need to call Fish and Wildlife, we’ll do that if he becomes a nuisance bear,” says Card.

With the amount of bear sightings in Rainbow Lake, it’s no surprise that Card believes the community is “Bear Aware.” He says there’s a few bear experts the Town can call on, and there is also a Bear Awareness program in town.

“They are Beautiful animals, but people need to know that bears can be dangerous,” says Card. “The best thing to do is give them their space and distance. Do not instigate any problems with the bear, and definitely do not feed the bear. Fish and Wildlife tells us every year, ‘A fed bear is a dead bear.’ We take that to heart; we don’t want to see these animals hurt or destroyed. We know we have to live with them, it’s just a fact of life here in the North.”

The Town is telling residents to use caution when going outside and to keep garbage secured so the bear can’t get to it.

-JD