A 300-pound black bear was killed last week after breaking into a Kiewit office trailer in the Callaghan Valley and attacking a worker who walked in on it.On Thursday (Aug. 7), the large male bear entered a Kiewit trailer at the Sea to Sky Improvement Project contractor's yard just off Highway 99 at the entrance to the Callaghan Valley. It was feeding on some food wrappers and other scraps that had been left inside when a female employee entered and startled the animal, said Chris Doyle of the B.C. Conservation Officer Service."It rushed at her and swatted her across the torso. Anytime a bear is in a confined space with a person, it's going to want to get out and it's not going to stop just because a person is there. "She was scratched and bruised, and was taken to the Whistler Health Centre by ambulance for treatment," said Doyle. She was released the same day. "We were just happy that the person wasn't more seriously hurt."Conservation officers shot and killed the bear at the contractor's yard."We set some traps and the bear came back while we were there," said Doyle.Officers decided at that point that its behaviour made it a public safety threat."It just seemed likely that that sort of behaviour was going to continue," he said. "It was destroyed."Doyle said the bear, which he estimated weighed 300 pounds, was first captured and ear tagged by officers last year at the former Whistler landfill site."It likely had some history of feeding on garbage, and that's probably what it went into the trailer for."In recent weeks, the same animal had entered structures more than once, including one owned by Blackcomb Snowmobiles in the Callaghan Creek area. It had also been hanging around a nearby campground looking for food, but the Conservation Office had only just recently received reports of the incidents."We found out there had been a number of issues in the last weeks," said Doyle. "We just found out about the complaints in the last couple of days."There have been 900 complaints of bears rooting around garbage and accessing fruit trees since the beginning of the season, April 1, said Doyle. "So it's quite busy." The Callaghan Valley incident saw the fifth bear shot and killed by conservation officers in the area this year, and the second in two weeks. Conservation officers also translocated a number of bears out of developed areas to "more suitable habitat," and also responded to a number of complaints and hazed bears, using non-lethal deterrents, to try and keep them out of conflicts."We're also actively investigating a number of poaching related as well as destruction of habitat and pollution related investigations," said Doyle. "This year we had two grizzly bears that were shot illegally, one in the Upper Squamish and one in the Pemberton area."No further comment can be made since the incidents are still under investigation, said Doyle. To report a bear sighting 24 hours a day, seven days a week, call (604) 905-BEAR (2327), 1-877-952-7277 or #7277 or a mobile phone.
