Lynn Lau
Northern News Services
On the evening of Oct. 8, Andy Kudlak shot a bear in his dog lot across the street from his house.
Kudlak had gone out on his snowmobile to try to shoo the bear away from his dog team after it had engaged two of his dogs. The bear hadn't yet injured the dogs, probably because one dog was loose, and able to keep the bear at bay, Kudlak says.
The bear was a young male, probably about two-years-old, and in bad condition with nothing in its stomach. Kudlak says the bear had no fear.
"It didn't want to run away, so it wasn't scared of anything," he says. "That's the kind that doesn't stop for anybody. It had to be shot otherwise somebody would have got hurt really bad."
Most of the town visited Kudlak over the next couple days to take a look at the carcass. Kudlak is feeding the meat to his team, and has sent the hide and tissue samples to Resources, Wildlife, and Economic Development in Inuvik, as is required by law when nuisance wildlife is killed. The samples will be used for government research.
Since the bear was killed, the other problem bears seem to be staying away, says Bill Steven Ruben at the Hunters and Trappers Committee. It could be that the bears have gone into hibernation, or that they were finally scared off by the kill.
Paulatuuq had several grizzlies coming into town this fall, and people were reporting sightings almost daily. Residents chased the bears off with trucks and four-wheelers but the bears kept returning.
The bears are attracted to garbage and food in town, and to seal carcasses left in the harbour by dog team owners.
