By: Nick Liard

Bear calls in the city continue to go up, but now Greater Sudbury will have the highest number of bear technicians anywhere in the province.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry announced they will be hiring three bear technicians, bringing the compliment to four.

Sudbury Police have been burdened with the large amount of calls over the past few years and Chief Paul Pedersen hopes this alleviates that.

Sudbury MPP Glenn Thibeault says this has been one of the biggest issues he’s dealt with, people have told them they have changed lifestyle because of fear of bears.

The bear technicians will be on call throughout the summer to assess bear sightings, set out traps and help immobilize bears in ways that don’t result in injuries to people or death to a bear.

The MNRF says this is some assistance but residents still have to reduce chances of bear encounters by putting garbage out on the morning of collection, clean food from BBQ’s and put away bird feeders until the Winter.

Filed under: bear-technicians, bears, local-news, mnrf