Grizzly bear roaming Aklavik, N.W.T., killed by wildlife officers
'I went outside to have a cigarette...and lo and behold, there it was!' says resident Clara Joe
Wildlife officers put down a grizzly bear in Aklavik, N.W.T., Monday after they received several reports of the animal roaming into the community.
Clara Joe got quite a scare that evening when she went outside for a cigarette and saw the grizzly sitting in her driveway.
"Lo and behold, there it was!" she said.
Joe couldn't call for help because she doesn't have a phone, so she said she did the only thing she could.
"I just started hollering and telling it to get out of here, there's nothing here for it. But it went around the house once, and went to my dogs' house, and tried to sit on the platform."
Joe said the huge animal scared her but she put up a good front for the dogs, because they were tied up.
"The strangest thing, too, is that the dogs never even barked," she said.
"They sniffed it, and the bear wasn't aggressive or anything like that. It was just, you know, nosy."
Joe's neighbour heard her yelling and shot at the bear. It took off down the road.
The N.W.T.'s Department of Environment and Natural Resources said they received four reports of this particular bear roaming into the community looking for garbage, so they had to put it down.
Officers had set up a bear trap, but it wouldn't go for the bait: a bucket of spoiled whale.
Aklavik means "barrenground grizzly place" in Inuvialuktun.