Canadian town manages influx of hungry bears

With bear season fast approaching, police are more likely than ever to catch unruly bruins on Sudbury's streets (Reuters)
With bear season fast approaching, police are more likely than ever to catch unruly bruins on Sudbury's streets (Reuters)

Police in Sudbury have formulated a new approach to bear control after the Ontario township was inundated with locals calling about stray black bears cruising their streets.

The native bears have been causing havoc throughout the area, with the town's police called out to an incredible 1700 incidents involving the hairy mammals last year alone.

With 'bear season' fast approaching, police are more likely than ever to catch unruly bruins wandering through Sudbury's streets -- and even more so now given the recent poor berry crop in the region's forests.

The blueberries they traditionally munch on were smaller in number last year, which has been blamed on a late spring -- but there are also concerns the extensive use of pesticide through the local forest has further reduced their primary food source.

However, authorities believe a new system for reporting bear sightings will allow them to more strategically manage the influx of bears this time around, by reducing the number of calls to the police force's emergency line.

It requests that an emergency call is only made when bears enter school grounds, attack a pet, try to enter a house or "stalk" people, rather than when they are just "rummaging through a composter".

Sudbury locals who witness less threatening behaviour from black bears have been advised to call the country's Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry for assistance.

Newshub.