Coppermine (July 17/06) - A grizzly with a sweet tooth paid for his sugar fix with his life last week in Kugluktuk.

The bear was shot by a wildlife officer after invading a cabin of in search of luscious victuals. It's believed the animal was a serial offender.

A grizzly bear with an affinity for sugar, jams and lard was shot while breaking into a cabin in Kugluktuk on July 11. A dozen other cabins had recently been ransacked by a bear, suspected to be the same one. Here, conservation officer Allen Niptanatiak shows the bear. - photo courtesy of Allen Niptanatiak

There had already been a dozen previous complaints of cabins broken into by a bear this season - eight of them came during the July 8-9 weekend alone, according to conservation officer Allen Niptanatiak.

"So we're hoping this was the (same) bear because it was in the vicinity," he said. "We were afraid it might start breaking into cabins where people are (staying)."

A biologist, a member of the hunters and trappers organization and Niptanatiak cut the male adult grizzly's stomach open and found none of the grasses or roots that bears usually dine on this time of year. Instead, the problem bear was known to make a beeline for sugar, jams and lard.

Joanne Taptuna won't shed any tears for the misguided bruin. Upon arriving at her family's cabin over the July 8-9 weekend, she was dismayed to discover that the structure was badly damaged.

"(It) wrecked all our kitchen cupboard and tore off the doors," she said, noting that claw marks and bear feces in the area were tell-tale signs left by the culprit.

Niptanatiak said once a bear breaks into a cabin and gets a food reward, it can quickly become a learned behaviour.

Indeed, it appears that was the case with this bear. The conservation officer received a call around 9 p.m. on July 11 when neighbours noticed the grizzly forcing its way into a cabin six kilometres north of Kugluktuk. Fortunately they had a satellite phone.

After dispatching the mischievous 350-400 pound beast, the authorities examined it and found that it had sufficient body fat and no signs of wounds that may have triggered it to take such peculiar actions.

Alarmingly, the bear hadn't shown any signs of panic when Niptanatiak and his colleagues appeared on the scene. The grizzly simply started to saunter up a hill beside the cabin.

"The appearance was not fearful, they'll usually run away," he said.