Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 13/99) - Morrison Drive resident Jeff Coates got quite the surprise Monday when he came home from work for lunch.

He was just settling down in his backyard to enjoy some sunshine while he ate when something he normally did not expect to see so close to his Latham Island home caught his attention.

Close call with bear A summer student working for renewable resources -- RWED's geology division -- had to do some quick thinking when he encountered an aggressive bear at Vee Lake, Aug. 10. The student was doing some field work along a rocky ridge close to the lake when two large bears appeared. "He saw the two bears on the ridge and one of them went after the other and drove him off," said RWED biologist Dean Cluff. "He saw the larger bear heading in his direction and decided that it would be best to get back to his boat on the shore. "By the time he got back to the boat the bear was already at the spot where he had been previously standing and still coming towards him." The student was able to reach safety in the water while the bear watched. A bear trap was later placed at the location, but according to Cluff, there are few guarantees that the large, aggressive bear will be captured. "There's more than one bear out there and the chances of catching the right bear are slim," said Cluff. "People should let us know if they see aggressive bears right away and try and give us the exact time and location so we can establish a pattern to determine which is the right bear."

"I was in the backyard eating lunch when I saw a big, black shape about eight meters away," Coates said.

"At first, I thought it was a big Newfoundland dog. My cat was playing in the yard beside me and I perceived the animal to be a threat, so I grabbed the cat and that's when the animal turned around and looked at me."

Coates then realized that the animal was in fact a juvenile black bear that had inexplicably wandered into his yard.

"He was just sitting there eating berries," Coates said. "He wasn't acting aggressive. He didn't even appear to be remotely concerned that I was there."

Coates quickly decided that it was time to call RWED's renewable resources to report the bear and went inside to use the phone and find a safer spot for his cat.

By the time RWED officers arrived shortly afterwards, the bear was already gone.

"They were walking around the backyard, checking it out when they got another call," Coates said.

Another Morrison Drive resident a few houses down reported seeing the bear and the RWED officers went to chase it, hoping to capture the bear before it ran into any other residents.

Within 15 minutes, however, the bear had made its way to a residence on Otto Drive and then on to the Air Tindi Floatplane Base.

Air Tindi co-owner Peter Arychuk was at the base when he saw the bear swimming in the water close to shore.

"I saw the bear swimming in the water towards the rock out front," Arychuk said. "When the bear saw all the activity going on at the base, he started going out into the bay."

By the time RWED and the RCMP arrived, the bear was already half way across Yellowknife Bay on its way to the opposite shore.

"He's better off over there than he is here," said RWED officer Ernie Campbell.

For Arychuk, the bear sighting was only one of two this week.

"I saw one just in front of my house on Back Bay the other day," Arychuk said.

"I suspect that the reason why were seeing them in town is because there's not enough berries in the bush. I was talking to some of the pilots and it's pretty dry out there. The bears got to fatten up for the winter."

RWED biologist Dean Cluff explains that there could be a number of reasons for the frequent bear sightings in town, even though the answers are still not clear.

"The short answer is that I don't know for sure," Cluff said. "We don't have any marked bears and we haven't done a black bear study for the North Slave.

"This time of year female bears are kicking out the cubs that are a year-and-a- half to two years old and the young bears are looking for their own territories and food. If they're not finding food they're going to wander more.

"Because Yellowknife is located in an isolated setting in the wilderness, were going to see bears."