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Family of bears visited Hope on Halloween night

RCMP keep animals at bay through suggestion from Bear Aware

A family of black bears spent Halloween perched in a tree in Hope, thanks to a tactic suggested to RCMP by a local bear awareness group.

The Hope RCMP received a call at about 8 p.m. that a mother bear and two cubs were seen running across a backyard in the 400 block of Rupert Street. When the police arrived, the bears were all up a nearby tree.

The area was filled with children trick or treating, so the RCMP chose to stay at the base of the tree to keep the animals at bay. Once the RCMP deemed if safe, they left the tree base and allowed the bears to come down.

Once out of the tree, the bears ran away.

Cst. Tracy Wolbeck said the Hope RCMP have been working with the Fraser Valley Regional District's Bear Aware Program and that the suggestion to deal with bears in that way has been suggested in the past.

"It was successful and neither the bears nor any member of the public was harmed," she said.  "As a police officer, you have no idea what your shift is going to demand of you that day.

"A mother bear with her cubs is obviously a really volatile situation so our members stayed to ensure that mom did not become a threat to all the people out that night."

news@ahobserver.com

Related story: Harrison becoming more 'Bear Aware'