A closure notice to the public has been posted on multiple Yukon government social media accounts following a bear incident that occurred Sunday.
According to the post, conservation officers and Yukon Parks have responded to the incident at the Pine Lake campground outside Haines Junction, and one person involved in it was receiving medical attention.
“Conservation officers have located and removed the bears matching the description of those involved in the incident from the area,” said the post by Yukon Conservation Officer Services. Staff added that they will continue ensuring public safety.
As the officers were still in the area today, the campground and surrounding trails will remain closed until further notice. Environment Yukon is asking the public to stay away from the area.
Lee Carruthers was one among many others who had to leave the campground.
“After breaking camp in the twilight, I hit the road just before 2 a.m.,” he responded to the post on social media early Monday morning.
He added that they were on their way out of the campground at around 1 a.m. and heard four shotgun blasts a couple of hours earlier in the “near distance,” and saw what he described as many rangers and conservation officers onsite with shotguns in their hands.
According to Grizzly Bear Protection Yukon, the Yukon government put down four grizzly bears near Haines Junction during the Canada Day long weekend, including a mother bear and her three cubs.
“This is a tragedy, a tragedy for the bear family,” said the organization’s Uli Nowlan. She added she wants to know how the government determines whether the bears they put down were the ones that posed a threat to people.
“Even if they were the bears that attacked the individual, they shouldn’t just put them down. They used the word ‘removed’, not ‘killed’,” Nowlan said.
She believes the bears were surprised by the individual and were trying to protect their young.
She mentioned that nearly 45 bears have been euthanized in the Yukon in the past year alone.
“And that is just what has been recorded. We should stop doing that,” she said.