A bear roaming the Collettville area has been giving conservation officers the slip for about two weeks.

Back on April 15, the conservation office received a report of a bear spotted near Collettville Elementary School. When an officer arrived on scene the bear was nowhere to be found.

The conservation office then received a call on April 19 from a resident on Fir Avenue saying that despite doing attractant management, a bear continued to come into the yard. It had also caused some property damage.

The two calls have been the only ones the office has received regarding a bear in Collettville and conservation officer Paul Pike said there were no reports of people being hurt by a bear.

Pike decided to set a trap on Fir Avenue assuming the calls were for the same bear given the close timing of the reports.

Pike said there’s no guarantee the trap — a large bin with a door that closes behind the bear when it enters the bin and tries to take the bait — will work.

“A bear, once it’s coming through neighbourhoods and is used to getting a food reward out of garbage cans and stuff like that, they get alert behavior that through that they’ll get a reward,” Paul said.

He said it can be intimidating for a bear to access a trap and get its food reward in a different way than it has become accustomed to, so if non-natural food sources are available they will continue to access those sources.

Residents ensuring their garbage cans are secure will help the chances of the trap being successful, he said.

Pike said the indication from talking with the resident in regards to this bear is that it is habituated to eating garbage.

Therefore, it’s likely the conservation officers will need to destroy the animal.

Pike said having a bear roaming in a neighbourhood is not unlike previous springs, where bears will wake up from hibernation only to find minimal natural food sources available to them.

“They hang around the edge of town. Once the grasses start greening up, the bears seem to move out of town and go into the surrounding hills and forest areas,” Pike said.

People should keep their barbeques clean, remove bird feeders and store pet food inside. Feeding pets should be done inside as well.

Storing garbage inside places such as a garage or shed is ideal, Pike said.

People can report a bear sighting at 1-877-952-7277.