Better than Goldilocks...

[Emily]

Keystone Cops go Bear Hunting:
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/natio ... 40&k=30235

cops nab 450 pound bear that had been hibernating in crawl space--after advising the house's residents to let the bear sleep for another month... 21 shots fired (not including the tranquilizer dart). Could this possibly be true? LOL When was the last time you saw a 450 lb bear in the spring?

Bear gets nasty surprise after waking up under house
Aldo Santin , Winnipeg Free Press
Published: Saturday, March 22, 2008
WINNIPEG - Residents of Kenora, Ont., are upset with how local police officers shot and killed a black bear in a residential neighbourhood Friday night, one block from the city's downtown.
Kenora is about 200 kilometres east of Winnipeg.
Earl Bouchard said he went out Saturday morning and found blood smeared all over his garage where the bear had staggered after first being shot by police.



"They were firing towards the house and we were never warned or told what was going on," Bouchard said.
Another neighbour said 21 shots were fired at the animal.
The approximately 450-pound black bear had spent the winter hibernating in the crawl space of a 2nd Street North home, about a block from Bouchard's home, and had began waking up last week.
Kristie Cavanagh, 18, said her family began hearing noises coming from beneath their home last Friday, and when her father went to see, he found the bear sleeping under their house.
Cavanagh said her father contacted Kenora Police, Ontario Natural Resources, and the local animal control, who all told him to leave the bear alone.
"They told us it was too dangerous to wake it and it would sleep for another month, even though we said it had been making noise and moving around," Cavanagh said.
Cavanagh said her family was worried for their safety, adding her father placed a trap near the crawl space but never caught it. She said the family believes the bear left the crawl space twice during the week, and wandered around the neighbourhood before returning to their home.
Cavanagh said her family saw police officers waving flashlights in front of her home Friday night, when they discovered the bear was out again. She said police monitored the bear for about two hours before firing three tranquilizer darts into it.
But instead of collapsing, Cavanagh said, the bear charged at police, who were forced to shoot it three times with a rifle. The bear then took off, with the police chasing after it.
Wendy Bouchard, Earl's wife, said she and her daughter were watching a movie in the second floor of their Third Street home when she heard at least three shots outside after 11 p.m.
"I looked outside and I could see rifles pointed down and towards the back," Bouchard said.
She said the bear tried to climb a tree in her backyard, but didn't have the strength. It then wandered towards the front of her property, where police shot at it repeatedly.
Cavanagh knows 21 shots were fired, because she counted every blast.
"The last three shots were wasted," Bouchard said. "The bear was clearly dead. It wasn't moving."
Bouchard said Kenora Police never once warned her that the bear was in her yard, or that they were going to be firing at the animal. There are several shift workers in the neighbourhood who often walk their dogs at night, Bouchard added, and she was worried for their safety.
Bouchard said it's not uncommon to see wildlife such as deer in the neighbourhood, and last summer, a black bear wandered around the neighbourhood at least once a week.
Kenora police issued a press release Saturday night about the incident, stating animal control officers had made several failed attempts to trap the bear.
The bear "became more bold and aggressive during the evening" and when tranquilizing it didn't work, police "were forced to destroy the bear after it charged the animal control officer."
aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca


© Winnipeg Free Press 2008