Crowds of onlookers, some of whom threw carrots and other bits of food, watched as Whistler RCMP and conservation officers tried for four hours on Saturday (May 29) to persuade a sub-adult male bear to descend from a tree along Village Gate Boulevard and retreat into the forest.

The bear was first seen in the area near the Pan Pacific Mountainside hotel on Saturday at about 9 a.m., RCMP Sgt. Shawn LeMay said.

The bruin, which was eventually shot with a tranquilizer dart and relocated to the Callaghan Valley, responded to efforts to scare it out of the tree by going up and down several times, but would not move away.

“It was very challenging for the police and conservation officers to get him down,” LeMay said, adding that around 3 p.m. officers decided to tranquilize the animal. “The bear would not respond to the bear bangers in the way we would have liked.”

The bear, which LeMay described as a brown-coloured, medium-sized animal, was a sub-adult male that was first captured and given an ear tag last year, said Sylvia Dolson, executive director of the Get Bear Smart Society.

During the four-hour standoff, crowds of people gathered on the Nebbeling Bridge and across the street near the Whistler Fire Hall snapping photos and taking video, LeMay said. In a few cases bystanders threw carrots and other bits of food in the bear’s direction.

“We asked them what they were doing and some said they were discarding the carrots, that they were biodegradable,” LeMay said. “We told them, ‘You’re not helping the situation.’”

LeMay added that Pan Pacific security staff helped by persuading hotel guests whose balconies were near the bear not to open their doors to watch the proceedings.

The incident was one of several bear-related incidents on the weekend.

Also on Saturday at about 3 p.m., police responded to a report of a bear having been hit on Highway 99 near Rainbow. LeMay said he didn’t know whether the bear survived the collision as no carcass was found.

Twice on Sunday (May 30), officers had to deal with a bear cub. The first incident, in the morning, saw police directed traffic along Lorimer Road as they marshaled the cub into the woods from where it was hanging out near Day Skier Lot 5.

Also on Sunday, another bear had to be “coaxed” away when it approached the base of the Wizard Chair and the Blackcomb Adventure Zone, LeMay said.

Impaired driver nabbed

Officers last week dealt with 17 abandoned 911 calls, issued seven, 24-hour roadside driving suspensions for impairment by alcohol and handled three impaired driving investigations.

One of those occurred in the wee hours on Tuesday (June 1). Officers followed a vehicle as it turned south onto Highway 99 from Village Gate Boulevar and noticed that its driver committed “a number” of driving infractions before pulling it over, LeMay said. The driver, a Whistler male of undetermined age, failed a roadside screening, then later blew two readings of .120 on a breathalyzer. The man faces charges of driving over .08 and impaired driving.