Black bear caught on video in Burnaby's Central Park killed by conservation officers

A black bear that was spotted in Burnaby, B.C.'s Central Park chasing geese near a pitch-and-putt course has been put down, according to conservation officers.

The bear was caught on video chasing after what appeared to be a baby Canada goose on Saturday, flanked by squawking geese and humans who had their golfing interrupted.

The bear appears to pounce on the goose in the video, taken by Burnaby resident Mandeep Uppalat around 3:40 p.m. Saturday.

Uppal says he had been going to Central Park for yearsand had never thought a bear would appear there. The park is located in the Metrotown area, nowhere near the larger regional parks in Metro Vancouver.

WATCH | Black bear chases geese in Central Park:

Prowling black bear chases after geese in B.C. park

2 years ago

Duration 0:18

Video taken by Mandeep Uppal shows a bear on the hunt near a pitch-and-putt course in Central Park in Burnaby, B.C.

"I've been going to Central Park since I was a kid," he told CBC News. "I've never heard of a bear being there.

"I'm not even sure how it got there. That was the real head-scratcher."

Uppal said he was out playing the first hole of the pitch-and-putt course when someone said there might be a bear nearby.

"At that point, I was thinking, this person's out to lunch," he said. "There's no bears at Central Park."

But then, he says park staff told themnot to play the first hole because there was a bear nearby.

"People are scratching their heads at this point, and we're just waiting around," he said. "There's no one playing on the first hole, which is where all the geese went onto the course.

"A couple of minutes later, they started making a bunch of noise and flying away. And at that point, I thought, OK, this might be it. I'm going to start recording now."

After the unfortunate baby goose met its end in his video, he says the bear jumped away into bushes and trees nearby.

Uppal said it was "pretty cool" to see a bear up close, but he was surprised at how comfortable it was with people around it.

The B.C. Conservation Officer Service told CBC News that the bear had been trapped and put down.

In a statement, the service said that putting down a bear or a cub was an "unfortunate outcome" that it worked to prevent. The bear in Central Park was initially tranquilized, and after an assessment, it was put down "due to his behaviour compromising public safety".

"Bears that are conditioned to humans or conditioned to non-natural food sources are not candidates for relocation or rehabilitation," the service said in its statement.

Uppal says conservation officers were at the scene when the bear made its appearance on the course, and one of the park workers had told him the bear had been spotted in the park a day before the incident.

The bear sighting caused the pitch-and-putt course to be shut down for two hours on Saturday.

Uppal said he would be back this weekend to resume his game andwould be on his toes for any further ursine encounters.