Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 17/99) - Even though a bear sauntered through her yard Sept. 13, Yellowknife resident Pat McMahon said the experience leaves her feeling more secure.

She and her husband, Murray, were outside doing afternoon deck work on their Dakota Court property when they saw some people with guns walk through their backyard.

They turned out to be RWED officials.

"We said, 'hey, what's happening,'" McMahon recalled of the experience.

"They said there was a bear around that they had been looking for since 8:30 a.m. and they said they thought it had gone through our yard and up into the rocks."

McMahon said there were bear tracks so the RWED officials tracked and found the bear before tranquillizing it near the Frame Lake trail.

They then carried the bear through the McMahon's yard, putting it on their lawn until a truck came to take it away.

"(The experience) made me feel very secure that we had such professionals doing the job they were doing," McMahon said.

"They had a cell phone and they were picking up reports. They had been tracking it along the trail and they knew what they were doing and how they were doing it."

McMahon, who has lived in Yellowknife 32 years -- pretty much all at the same location -- said she has seen bears several times on her property.

Wildlife officer Patricia Handley said bears are first tagged with a piece of plastic on their ear and then released about half an hour outside Rae.

"We've darted about 20 bears so far," she said.

"So far only about two of them have returned over the past two years and so far this year none of the tagged bears have come back."

Handley said if cubs come back the process is to tranquillize them again.

If the bear is an adult, the process is to give it a few chances and then if it starts to be seen as a danger to the community, it will be put down for good.

"There're minimal berries out there and the bears we do see are usually out at the dump," she said.

"Some are looking for areas to find food and they're being kicked out by other bears. So that's why we're seeing bears around town."

She said if anyone sees a bear to phone the emergency number: 873-7181.