An adult black bear on the loose was killed Thursday morning in the town of Charlemagne, located in the Lanaudière region, after mobilizing law enforcement and wildlife protection officers, in addition to causing the temporary closure one lane from Autoroute 40 toward Montreal.
The animal was first located early Thursday on the grounds of the Volkswagen car dealership, near highways 40 and 640. Police were then quickly deployed to the scene around 5 a.m. to ensure a security perimeter and thus avoid that residents come into contact with the animal.
“The police really stayed to make sure that if ever people came, the perimeter was going to be secure”, explains to the To have to the spokesperson for the Police Department of the City of Repentigny, which also provides this service to Charlemagne, Marie-Christine Garon. Wildlife officers then arrived at the car dealership site around 8 a.m., where they confined the black bear, before shooting it. A denouement which caused the ire of the citizens on social networks, in particular on the Facebook page of the City of Charlemagne.
“People are wondering why he was not put to sleep or relocated,” notes Ms. Garon.
The City also confirmed in a press release, shortly after 9 a.m., that the security perimeter set up due to the presence of this bear in an urban environment had been lifted. “It is with sadness that we learned that the bear present on the territory was killed by wildlife officers,” wrote the City.
The Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks of Quebec had not answered the questions of the To have to at the time these lines were written.
On Tuesday, a black bear was also seen by several citizens in the municipality of Saint-Liguori, in Lanaudière, which is about fifty kilometers from Charlemagne. The municipality of Saint-Jacques, in the same region, also confirmed to the To have to Thursday that a black bear was seen walking around in this area in the last few days.
“We are unfortunately unable to say whether it is the bear seen in Saint-Liguori”, indicated the City of Charlemagne to the To have to.