Bears spotted at shopping centres, parks and in yards over the long weekend

More people out and about for the Victoria Day long weekend might be one of the reasons for an increase in bear sightings in many communities.

Castanet received a report of a large black bear in the Dilworth Mountain area of Kelowna on Monday morning. There was also a video posted to the Glenmore Community Group Facebook group of a bear running across Kane Road, right by the Save-On-Foods at 8:50 on Monday morning.

Another reader sent a video of a bear cub wandering through a yard in Trout Creek, south of Summerland on Saturday.

In the North Okanagan, there were two sightings reported on the Vernon & Area Community Forum Facebook Page. One was in the vicinity of Mt. Ida Drive and Mt. Revelstoke Place in the Middleton Mountain neighbourhood, and the other in Kalamalka Provincial Park in Coldstream.

Lesley Phoenix spotted the bruin Sunday, about 50 feet from the Red Gate parking lot at the park. She was worried because it was close to an area with lots of people and dogs off-leash. She says she clapped her hands and told it to move along, and it did.

In Kamloops, a man reported a bear running around the parking lot of Aberdeen Mall Monday afternoon.

@Kamscan There is a brown bear running around the parking lot of Aberdeen Mall. Wife called it in.#kamloops

— Ian484848 (@ian484848) May 23, 2022

WildSafeBC’s Wildlife Alert Reporting Program only shows one sighting reported to conservation officers in the region, and that was six days ago near Vineyard Drive, above Bella Vista way in Vernon.

According to WildSafeBC, black bears account for 14,000 to 25,000 calls per year to the BC Conservation Officer Service and they are most active between April and November.

If you have an encounter with an aggressive bear or spot one in an urban area, you’re asked to report it to the BCCOS at 1-877-952-7277.

Photo: Lesley Phoenix

This bear was spotted near a busy parking lot at Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park on Sunday, May 22, 2022.