It appears Jan Lake isn’t just a popular spot for campers and anglers. Bears have been coming to the community in record numbers this summer.
Ryan Cherny, who owns and operates Three Lakes Camp at Jan Lake, said he has seen nine bears at Jan Lake since the August long weekend.
“It really had been quite quiet, and then, right around August long there were quite a few.”
“It’s a fairly regular occurrence in the past few years. In the midsummer, especially if garbage has been taken care of, we’ll definitely see more. That was quite a surge, quite a spike – there were so many in such a short time.”
It is not uncommon for a camp owner or operator to accompany a natural resources worker when a bear is spotted near their property.
The increased number of bear sightings became news on Aug. 3, when a 13-year-old was taken to hospital in Flin Flon with non-life-threatening injuries after an incident involving bears.
A conservation officer and a member of the public used shotguns to fire warning shots at four bears that had climbed into a tree. During the shooting, a fragment of one of the shells bounced from the scene and hit the 13-year-old, who was sitting in a vehicle parked about 70 metres behind the site. RCMP and the Ministry of Environment are investigating the incident.
A news release by the Ministry of Environment issued after the incident stated that multiple bear sightings had been reported at Jan Lake this summer, and that a live bear was trapped in late July.
When Cherny or other camp operators see bears encroaching near a camp or a populated area, there is an outlined procedure for how the encounter should be handled.
“We notify [Natural Resources]. We like to keep a record of it. We notify them right away and if there are repeated sightings of the same bear, usually if they aren’t able to get them in a trap, usually the decision is made to destroy it,” he said.
