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All Whistler Articles
Police and conservation officers are investigating an incident involving the death of a bear at the hands of a Pemberton resident who admitted shooting it with a crossbow within municipal boundaries.
Police were called to a home on Dogwood Street in the Pemberton Benchlands on Saturday (Aug. 21) at around 9 p.m., Whistler RCMP Staff Sgt. Steve LeClair said. A resident had heard a “strange cry” and then spotted a dead bear in her backyard, he said.
He glides with purpose striding smoothly from one edge of the ski trail to the other. His pace is faster than usual - less food more travel. His long neck, like a reversed rudder, angles through the metre-high foliage, eyes alert to colour. With no obvious effort he quickly nibbles a few berries, floppy lips and a protruding tongue finishing one stem while instantly rebounding to an adjacent stem for more. Nothing there. Keep going... keep looking.
He pushes away from the patch and plows through a cluster of regenerating mountain hemlock conifers. Letting the tips brush his underside, he signs his presence for the day.
Whistler RCMP officers chased away a bear that ripped into a tent at Riverside Campground on the weekend.
RCMP Sgt. Shawn LeMay said Conservation Officer Dave Jevons was dealing with an unrelated situation in Creekside when he phoned police on Saturday (Aug. 14) at around 8 p.m. to ask for assistance in dealing with the Riverside situation.
Whistler following a personal anti-hunting agenda, PWF president says
Council's proposed ban on crossbows has little to do with improving safety and everything to do with impeding hunters' rights, says one advocate.
Clarke Gatehouse, president of the Pemberton Wildlife Federation (PWF) said that bow hunting within RMOW limits hasn't been a safety issue in the past because no one in Whistler has ever been hit with a crossbow.
Re: Bowhunting within the RMOW boundaries
On behalf of Whistler Residents Opposed to Urban Hunting, we would like to ask that mayor and council regulate bow hunting within municipal boundaries; or at minimum in areas that are used recreationally.
According to the B.C. Hunting Regulations, most municipalities have local bylaws restricting and controlling the use of weapons, firearms and bows within their boundaries. And Whistler does in fact have a bylaw that makes it unlawful to discharge a firearm within our municipal limits (Firearms Regulation Bylaw No. 874, 1991). Provincial regulations do, however, stipulate "No Hunting" areas making it illegal to bow hunt within 100 metres of a dwelling or playground within the RMOW.
Download brochures and flyers for home, play or your business. These are specifically designed for Whistler residents, businesses and visitors.
Busy July for bear calls closes with yearling getting into Riverside tent
The weekend took its toll on Whistler's bear population, as two more were killed on Saturday and Sunday (July 31 and Aug. 1) — one destroyed after breaking into a tent at the Riverside Campground, and the other dead after being hit by a car.
A busy July for bear calls ended with the destruction of the tent-invading bear on Saturday. Dave Jevons of the B.C. Conservation Officer Service said a female yearling that had a history of a high level of conflict around the Village broke into a tent at Riverside, and got into some food and toiletries.
A resident of Whistler, B.C., wants crossbow hunting banned in the municipality after learning that it's legal to use the weapons to hunt bears within the resort community's boundaries.
Sylvia Dolson opposes bear hunting and says it's just a matter of time before a person becomes a victim of a crossbow.
"Safety is a major concern," Dolson told CBC News. "We have all kinds of parks, hiking trails, biking trails."
Conservation officers this week shot and killed a bear that had repeatedly broken into homes in Whistler over the past few days, and relocated another that ate the seats of a golf cart and tossed around bags of clubs at Nicklaus North Golf Course.
Another bear, meanwhile, was killed after having been struck by a vehicle on Highway 99 south of Pemberton.
Dolson leading effort to ban bow hunting within RMOW after bear killed with crossbow
True or false: it is legal to shoot a bear with a crossbow in Lost Lake Park during hunting season.
Answer: true.
That is also the case in the Callaghan Valley and the Interpretive Forest, any logging and hiking trail or anywhere within the RMOW, so long as the hunter is licensed and, according to a hole the Firearms Regulation Bylaw, is 15 metres away from the centre line on the road, and/or is 100 metres away from a playground or building occupied by people or domestic animals.
A young male bear damaged a so-called bear-proof garbage bin, stole a person’s lunch and led RCMP and conservation officers on a bit of a chase in and around Whistler Village this week.
Late Tuesday (July 20), authorities set up a culvert trap in the area surrounding the day lots in an attempt to capture the bear, which was estimated to be about two years old, said Dave Jevons of the B.C. Conservation Officer Service.
A young male bear that led RCMP and conservation officers on a chase in and around Whistler Village early this week has been captured and relocated.
The small bear that came into Whistler Village several times Sunday through Tuesday (July 18 to 20), and was responsible for stealing a man's lunch and damaging a garbage bin in Rebagliati Park, was pursued and shot with a tranquilizer dart late Wednesday (July 21), Sgt. Chris Doyle of the B.C. Conservation Officer Service said on Thursday (July 22).
An adult male black bear that had broken into at least two homes in Whistler to access food has been destroyed after being determined to have been a public safety threat.
The bear, known to local bear experts as Parker, was shot and killed after being caught in a culvert trap early Wednesday (July 14), Chris Doyle of the B.C. Conservation Officer Service said.
There has been an increase in black bear activity and human-bear conflicts in Whistler over the past couple of weeks, with conservation officers having tried unsuccessfully to trap a bear that’s believed to be responsible for at least two home break-ins.
Conservation Officer Chris Doyle said the same bear is believed to have broken into two homes in the Alta Vista/Blueberry area on Monday (July 12). In one incident, someone was home when the bear got in, and the occupant escaped out a window while the bear gained access to food in the house, he said.
Jul 15, 2010 — Media Coverage: Stay Alert
Whistler Mountain resident mother black bear Brownie with one of two six-month-old cubs grazing up through a clover patch. Six females have produced 11 cubs in the ski area with a 100 per cent survival rate so far.
The Whistler RCMP are asking all residents - but especially residents living in Blueberry, Alta Vista and Brio - to lock their doors and not leave any food or garbage laying around. They believe the same bear may have broken into at least two houses last week, opening unlocked doors to gain entry.
Whistler is going for Bear Smart Community status! This has been a long time in the making. Since 2005, when we started researching human-bear conflict in Whistler, we’ve seen the municipality take big strides forward to do their part in reducing conflicts between bears and humans.
Police responded to a report of a bear having broken into a home on Eagle Drive in Whistler Cay on Saturday at around 6 p.m. When police arrived, the bear had dragged garbage outside and was eating it. Police used non-lethal means to scare the bear away, Leeson said.
To report bear sightings or potential human-bear conflicts, please phone 1-877-952-7277.
The issue of garbage pickup in Whistler resurfaced recently with council narrowly passing a motion to revisit possible solutions for local residents who don’t have vehicles to take their garbage to the two existing compactor sites.
The lack of easy access to bear-proof garbage disposal facilities is listed as a top priority in Whistler’s Human-Bear Conflict Management Plan, which council adopted at its June 15 meeting.
While council has discussed various pilot projects and possible neighbourhood waste collection options in the past, the cost has always been deemed too high.
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