A wounded grizzly bear may be on the loose near the southern end of Lake Laberge.
The grizzly made its way into a yard in the North Klondike Highway and 10 Mile Road area early Friday morning, possibly attracted by a chicken coop, said Ryan Hennings with Environment Yukon.
“The property owner attempted to try and scare it away, at which time she believed the bear charged at her, and therefore she acted in self defence.”
She shot at the bear with a rifle, and the bear took off.
Conservation officers searched the area but did not find the bear.
“We did find blood, and a blood trail for about 100 metres, so we know the animal was injured. We don’t know the significance of the injury, but the blood trail ended and we can’t find the bear.”
Environment has not received any reports of sightings of the bear since, and conservation officers do not know if it is dead or alive.
If it survived, it could be particularly aggressive because of the injury.
“We just want residents to be aware of this incident that has occurred so that if they see a grizzly bear in the area, and they believe it is injured, to please contact us as soon as possible so we can try to track down this animal and deal with it appropriately,” said Hennings.
Call 667-8005 to report a sighting of the injured bear during office hours, or 1-800-661-0525 after hours.
In addition to that bear, there has been another grizzly causing problems in the Old Alaska Highway and Scout Road area, he said.
“This bear has accessed human garbage - dog food and chicken feed - at numerous properties in the area. It’s getting more bold and conservation officers are actively trying to capture this bear and prevent any further conflict.
“We want to remind the public that bears are still out. We need to manage our attractants and secure our attractants, whether it’s garbage or dog food, chicken feed, whatever it may be, to try to prevent these incidents.”
Any sightings of bears who are at risk of coming into conflict with humans should be reported to Environment Yukon.