Paula Greenwood said she and two of her children, aged 11 and 12, watched a bear struggle to get out of a trap for hours before it was killed due to human negligence.
Greenwood and her family live in a home that backs up to Moore’s Meadow, where she said there is rampant wildlife, including bears, throughout the summer and fall. Last week, a bear near her home was trapped and eventually destroyed because it had become habituated to human food.
“At 10:40 in the evening, the bear got caught in the trap. My kids love bears as much as I do and we love the wildlife. We listened to that poor animal, she fought for her life for the entire night, before the Conservation Officer came and got her in the morning,” said Greenwood told MyPGNow.
“It wasn’t pleasant at all. There were quite a few tears. At first, we stood on our porch because we could see the trap. We could see her, she could get her head out and could get one paw out. But the hole wasn’t big enough. They were cheering her on to get out, but obviously, she can’t and it just, it wore on them. My son, my 12-year-old, was pretty angry and my daughter was pretty upset and devastated. We were devastated and there is no real reason why we need to be devastated by it.”
She took to social media to ask Prince George why it is so difficult to take the precautions necessary to keep bears from being killed.
“Why won’t you put away your garbage, in a garage? A shed? Or simply bungee it closed if you don’t have either of those? Why?” She wrote in the post.
Human negligence resulting in the death of bears is something the Prince George Conservation Office regularly talks publicly about and is a source of frustration for them. According to Greenwood, the bears in her area haven’t been aggressive or an issue to residents, but people leaving their garbage out irresponsibly causes them to become accustomed to human food.
“In the fall they start looking for food and they’ll go to the easiest source and unfortunately, people are making their garbage the easiest source. It doesn’t take very much to get a bungee cord or a ratchet strap and I understand not everyone has a garage or a shed, but until the bears really become dependent on human food, they are unlikely to just tear open a shed wall or door. I would just like to see people make it so that the easiest source they could get is back in their natural habitat.”
She said it’s difficult to explain to her children why people won’t do what’s needed to keep the bears alive.
“They have that wondering, like why won’t people do it? It’s not that hard. They’re confused, it’s kind of understanding human nature, the parts that they don’t get. If it’s such a simple solution, kids just think ‘why?’ It’s hard, it really is. It makes me really angry. I know my kids have to grow up and they have to go through unpleasant things in life, but it isn’t something that they should have to for this, this is preventable.”
Greenwood is preparing some ideas to bring to City Council and is asking the public to help her out with some input, which they can provide by commenting on her original post or messaging her.
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