If another bear wanders into Newmarket, ministry will handle it differently

Yorkregion.com
July 31, 2015
By Jeremy Grimaldi

When a black bear was spotted running around backyards in Newmarket in June, the animal quickly became a sensation in local neighbourhoods and on the Internet.

That excitement quickly turned to anger the following day when the bear was shot and killed by York Regional Police , which led to questions about why a capture plan hadn’t been created, considering the amount of time the Ministry of Natural Resources had to try to save the animal.

The ministry was first called by police on Sunday and then again at 6:20 a.m. the following day.

Officers shot the bear just before 9 a.m., before anyone from the ministry arrived.

Now, two months after the killing caused an outpouring of vitriol and death threats against the authorities, the processes around how wild animals are dealt with when they wander into urban areas has been updated.

Although ministry spokesperson Jolanta Kowalski refused to say any members of staff made any mistakes in dealing with the Newmarket bear situation, she did say the processes were reviewed.

"No, we don't believe there were any mistakes made," she said, noting all established, approved district processes at the ministry were followed. "What I have said is maybe we could have arrived a little bit faster."

Kowalski said one process alteration is that from now on, at least one staff member will attend the site immediately to advise officers, while others head to the district offices in Aurora to gather equipment.

She also noted staff will pack required equipment into ministry vehicles each Friday night, just in case an incident occurs over the weekend.

"These (changes) are being made because we had discussions on how can we do this even better," she said. "I think this is a sign we look over our process."

Kowalski also explained ministry staff will communicate with each other via cellphone rather than through phone systems with operators.

Meanwhile, York police Supt. Mark Brown said he believes had response times been better, the bear's life might have been saved.

"(Had they arrived) earlier in the game, it might have made a difference," he said. "One thing we have learned is, regrettably, no one is happy with dispatching the bear."

After extensive discussions, he said the force will not be obtaining tranquilizers themselves, but did say police and ministry staff will stay in touch via cellphone.

He also noted it's not always guaranteed that a bear will survive even if it is tranquilized, trapped and relocated.

Despite four York Region incidents where bears were initially rescued during similar situations since 2005, many might have perished due to the ketamine in the tranquilizer or because of a failed effort to relocate them.

The news comes on the heels of a Freedom of Information Act request by The Toronto Sun in which a number of the emails surrounding the bear's death were released to the public.

In the emails, ministry staff are warned not to wear identification in the days following the incident in case protests erupted or threats were acted out.

The emails also discussed the police's anger at how long it might take the ministry to arrive at the site.

"They didn't like at all hearing that we need time to mobilize and get out there ... " one email said, according to The Sun.

The documents further showed the ministry was flooded with complaints after the incident, including 140 emails, 90 letters and 26 phone calls.

The word "killed" or "shot" was cut from letters and briefing notes and replaced with "dispatch", it said.

Emails also show ministry officials met with police after the event and promised to speed up response times, which they said usually ranged between two and three hours.