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Saikkonen says her 82-year-old husband went out first, with a 30-aught-six rifle, and fired a warning shot to scare off the bears. One of the bears took off, but the other wouldn’t leave, she says.

“When I got there Ludger handed me the gun,” says Saikkonen, who is 76. “I tried the first time and missed, but with the second shot I got him down.”

It wasn’t Saikkonen’s first shot — she is an Anishinabe woman — her maiden name is Debassige — who has done a fair amount of hunting over the years. But it might be her last.

The noise prompted another resident to call Greater Sudbury Police, says Saikkonen, and soon enough “a whole bunch of cruisers were out here.”

She and her husband were charged with careless use of a firearm and “they took all our guns away,” she says.

The couple feels the police reaction was harsh. “They’re treating us like criminals,” says Leblanc.

We found out later in the week that eight other bears have been shot in this area, and we’re the only ones who have been charged

Saikkonen says they are also being singled out. “We found out later in the week that eight other bears have been shot in this area, and we’re the only ones who have been charged.”

The only reason she shot the bear, she says, is because Stoner “was terrified,” she says. “She was having nightmares because she’s got this new baby and her husband is away.”

She and Leblanc were also under the impression that Stoner and her husband had “got permission from the MNR to shoot the bear,” she says.

And landowners do have “the legal right to kill a bear in defence of property,” according Jolanta Kowalski, spokesperson with the ministry of natural resources, but it must be done “humanely and safely in accordance with local bylaws that cover the discharge of firearms.”