Chicken feast leads to the death of two black bears in B.C.’s Okanagan

KELOWNA, B.C.—Two black bears blamed for feeding on about 40 free-range chickens in British Columbia’s Okanagan have been destroyed by conservation officers.

Chicken owner Dave Durrer says he returned to his east Kelowna, B.C., home this past weekend and found his wire fence smashed and the chickens buried in a nearby forest.

Conservation officer Ken Owens says he was called to the scene, checked the bite marks on the birds and determined two bears were responsible for the deaths.

He says he laid down foot snares on a trail and caught and destroyed a 35-kilogram bear on Sunday morning.

Owens says he shot a 110-kg sow nearby and later tracked down and destroyed the wounded bruin with a colleague in a nearby ravine.

Relocating the bears was not an option and wouldn’t have accomplished anything because Owens says the bears were used to finding their dinners in local neighbourhoods.

“Kelowna is not a bear-smart community … We see people put the garbage out the day before pickup.

“Bears get that huge score and they get habituated and food-conditioned. Ultimately they get killed because they get addicted.”