By IAN ROBERTSON, SUN MEDIALast Updated: 3rd June 2009, 1:01pm
Kim Greenslade was thrilled by an unusual visitor who wandered into the
backyard of her Aurora home early today — a young adult bear.
What began with neighbours spotting the bold but unbothered bruin ended peacefully 4 1/2 hours later, when it was tranquilized and slid slowly down a tree before dropping safely into a tarp held by firefighters.
Alerted by a neighbour at 5:40 a.m., Greensalde watched what ministry of natural resources (MNR) officers estimated was a 2-to 3-year-old, 115-kilogram black bear for about 45 minutes in the back yard of her family's Larmont St. home.
Cocoa, the family's chocolate Labrador, began barking, but she said the bear "didn't seem upset or anything ... it just wanted to lay down and sleep.
"I don't think it's a cub," she added, after snapping photos out a window of her Wellington-Yonge Sts. area home.
Greenslade said her first-ever bear visitor became nervous and ran off as York Regional Police officers gingerly approached on foot.
"He ran across the street and up a tree at Wellington and Yonge," about a block away, Greenslade said.
"This has never happened before," she said. "He was quite calm."
As police kept neighbours and curious passers-by at a safe distance, an MNR team arrived from Uxbridge with a special bear transport.
A garden shed was removed as firefighters set out a tarp to break its fall.
The MNR wildlife experts said the bear had likely just come out of hibernation and was hunting for food.
At this time of year, they are quite hungry after a winter spent sleeping and losing weight. But black bears are rarely aggressive, unless cornered.
An MNR officer climbed the tree with a tranquilizer dart on the end of a pole and applied the sleep chemical as his target clung to branches about 20 metres above the ground.
Around 10:05 a.m., the sleepy bear began climbing down, then lost its grip and fell about 4 metres to be caught by firefighters — who quickly stepped back.
Their catch wobbled away about 10 metres and fell asleep on thick grass.
The MNR team told police the bear was breathing well and appeared unhurt.
After taking measurements for an official bear record, they attached an ear tag and loaded the sleeping animal into a trailer.
Conservation officers said they planned to release it into the wild north of Newmarket, near Lake Simcoe.
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2009/06/03/9664051.html#/news/2009/06/03/pf-9660506.html
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