'Don't feed the bears': Nain warns residents after 2 bears put down

The community of Nain is asking its residents to stop feeding bears, after two of several bears hanging around within town limits have had to be put down in recent days.

"They've become what you'd call agressive… brazen I guess. They're not scared of anyone. If they see a fish, they're going to come and get it," said Nain AngajukKak Joe Dicker.

Dicker said five bears have been spotted within town limits in the past two weeks: a mother and her two cubs, as well as two males. The males were the ones put down.

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"Fortunately this year, the bears that we have spotted are across the harbour from the community itself, but it's still within the town boundaries, so it's still a danger to the public," said Dicker, adding there's no way to simply tranquilize the bears.

"We don't have the resources, the helicopters or the wildlife people to come up here, and once they're tranquillized, move them to another spot. That's something that we can't even consider at this time."

Char and seal temptations

Dicker said human activity across the harbour is providing too much temptation for the bears.

"People go over there fishing every day. They're catching fish, cleaning fish, and leaving guts and that on the beach, and that's what the bears come out to eat each evening," said Dicker, adding with the Arctic char fishery in full swing, people need to take steps to clean up after themselves.

"When you're cleaning your fish, please, throw your remains into the water so that it'll sink. If you leave it on the beach, it stays up there, it dries, and then flies are attracted and it smells, and bears smell it too."

Dicker said leftover seal carcasses are also adding to the bear buffet, and asks people to clean those up too.

"Please don't feed the bears. That's something that's always said, but it's very true here in Nain."

Dicker is particularly concerned about the mother bear and her cubs.

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"That's the most dangerous bear there I think, is the mother, because they're very defensive of their young."

Dicker said Nain does have a volunteer bear monitoring team, with people on call every day of the week to respond to any emergency, from spring through to when the bears go into hibernation.