FREDERIC SERRE
The 1019 Report
St. Lazare residents can rest easy, the wayward bear seen wandering through the Chaline Valley neighbourhood on Monday appears to have returned home to a nearby forest, according to the Sûreté du Québec and a Quebec Wildlife Protection official.
“The bear left the zone and has gone back to the forest,” Tommy Shallow, a wildlife protection investigator, said in an interview yesterday. “We’re not quite sure where he went exactly, he might be back in his forest or wandering near neighbouring municipalities. But he definitely left our area last night.”
Panicked citizens called 911 around 7 a.m. Monday to report a black bear wandering around Place Charbonneau and neighbouring streets. Shallow says he and his officers were called in, along with SQ personnel. They immediately scoured the area while doing door to door visits to alert residents.
“They’re early risers, and they stay out at night,” said Shallow, who has been a wildlife agent for 15 years and who recalls the last time he dealt with a disoriented bear was in 2010 in St. Lazare. “It made the news everywhere.”
Shallow said the bear was probably very hungry, and because it is still early in the summer season and berries, corn and other food sources have yet to grow, it wandered from his forest habitat to residential areas to feed from compost bins.
Generally discreet, it is not uncommon for bears to end up in residential areas, Shallow said. If his activities are not disturbed, the animal will only pass through, and there is no need for residents to panic.
“We did a lot of door to door yesterday to check in with residents,” he said.
Because St. Lazare stretches over a 67 square kilometres of mainly forested area, wildlife, including moose, deer, coyotes, foxes, raccoons and bears also share the territory and, according to the Town, “are an integral part of our reality. Usually discreet, it is possible these animals occasionally end up in a residential area. If their passage is not disrupted, the animal will usually move on.”