A black bear was euthanized near Rainbow Park late Tuesday afternoon, July 30, after the Conservation Officer Service (COS) determined it was emaciated and suffering from a wounded leg.
Conservation officers managed to locate and tranquilize the male black bear after receiving several calls about the injured animal spotted in the Alta Lake area.
"Once the COs were able to assess the bear, it appeared it had been hit by a motor vehicle," said conservation officer Brittany Mueller.
The bear had "significant injuries" to its hind right leg, chest and abdomen area, and had been observed limping, holding its leg up and dragging its leg—"Basically having no use of its hind foot," said Mueller.
After observing the bear to be "extremely emaciated" and in poor condition, COS humanely euthanized the bear to prevent any further suffering, said Mueller.
"[The bear] was not healthy by any means," she said.
The approximately three-year-old bear was previously tagged in the Creekside area and relocated in 2018.
"At that time, the bear had a gash in its foot but it was walking fine, still mobile, still feeding. Unfortunately this guy's had some bad luck and now it looks like he's been hit by a car and his injury was [not one that could be recovered from]," Mueller explained.
This marks the first bear euthanization in Whistler this year, in what Mueller calls "a very successful season so far." The COS has yet to destroy any bears within the resort due to human conflict or food habituation.
"People have been reporting sightings to us, we're able to haze bears away. Things are going very well, even though there are a lot of bears in the valley," said Mueller.
In this case, "he was just a bear being a bear, it's just unfortunate that he did get hit by a car and was really struggling trying to survive."
