Black bear dies after being removed from Saskatoon

A black bear has died after conservation officers had to be called in to remove it from a tree in Saskatoon’s north end.

Police were called around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday after the bear, which turned out to be a young male weighing around 200 pounds, made its way up a tree located near the intersection of Miners Avenue and 51st Street.

From there, conservation officers were called in to assist. They tranquilized the animal around 6:30 a.m., then loaded it into a specialized trailer to remove it from the city.

Conservation officer Rich Hildebrand told 650 CKOM that when staff got the animal outside the city, they noticed it was not reacting well.

He said the condition is known as capture myopathy and it can be caused by extreme stress or over-exertion.

“The body, in a sense, shuts down and eventually it leads to death,” he said.

With the animal clearly in distress, Hildebrand said officers were left to make the difficult decision to euthanize it.

“The officers looked at the situation and the bear wasn’t doing well. They didn’t want to see it suffer, so they actually had to put it down,” he said.