Bear in #mapleridge tent city. pic.twitter.com/cMx8rd4pEv — phil melnychuk (@philmelny) September 15, 2017
A bear caused a stir at the Anita Place Tent City in downtown Maple Ridge.
It was first noticed near the camp on 223rd Street, by St. Anne Avenue, by a construction worker at around 8:15 a.m. Friday.
“He took a little meander through the park and stopped,” said Joe Barkovich, who’s working on a house nearby.
A dump truck in the area scared the bear up a tree, inside the partially fenced homeless camp and above tents.
Contessa Avery, who lives at the camp, said the bear had been in the area eating plums when the dump truck came around a corner and may have hit it.
“One leg seems hurt,” she said.
Residents of the camp remained on the property while the bear was still in the tree, although the immediate area below was evacuated.
Conservation officers waited a while after arriving, then shot it out of a tree, needing two tranquilizer darts.
It took about half an hour for the darts to take effect before the bear fell out of the tree, into the tent city. Residents there helped load the bear into the conservation service pickup truck but it’s not known where it was taken. However, the bear wasn’t injured from the morning ordeal.
