York Regional Police officers said they shot and killed a black bear in a Newmarket neighbourhood Monday morning because they could no longer wait for trained provincial agents to arrive.

York Regional Police Inspector Lou Malbeuf told CP24 that officers shot and killed the bear as it climbed down from a tree into a backyard. He said they killed the bear, which had been spotted in the Newmarket area over the past several days, because it posed too great a risk to public safety.

Ministry of Natural Resources officers arrived at the scene on London Road near the intersection of Davis Drive and Yonge Street minutes after the bear was shot dead. Malbeuf said police waited as long as they could for the ministry representatives to arrive.

After the bear was loaded into a pickup truck for disposal, Ministry of Natural Resources supervisor John Almond told reporters that although he and his colleagues were aware of the bear moving around Newmarket over the weekend, "it has to be stationary" for anyone to try to tranquillize it.

"Up until this point the bear was just running from yard to yard."

He said he received a call from police about the bear at 6:20 a.m. Monday, and he and his team arrived on scene at 8:45 a.m.

"We have a lot of equipment that has to come, we have staff with specialized training who have to be available."

Meanwhile, in a press release issued late Monday morning York Regional Police said that they banged chairs, deployed a cruiser sign and took several steps to keep the bear contained until MNR officials arrived on scene but were ultimately unsuccessful.

Police also said that they considered using a conducted energy weapon to neutralize the animal, however officers were unable to get close enough without compromising their safety.

This came after YRP contacted a number of agencies, including the Ministry of Natural Resources, the University of Guelph, a horse veterinarian, the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, local Animal Control and the Toronto Zoo over the weekend.

“The officers involved and York Regional Police regret the incident but there were no other options,” Chief Eric Jolliffe said in the press release.“Police officers are not equipped with tranquilizers nor are they trained on the containment of wild animals. We will be following up with the MNR in an attempt to improve the response to such incidents.”

Police said that for several hours they surrounded the bear, which could be seen jumping onto backyard patios, hopping fences and at one point taking refuge in a tree, while they waited for officials from the Ministry of Natural Resources to arrive with tranquillizers.

Melissa Holder told CP24 she watched police as they stood around a tree the bear was hiding in, minutes before it was shot.

She said police employed a number of tactics to keep the bear in the tree -- yelling, throwing a chair at a nearby fence and firing off a noise gun.

"Shortly after that there was another man who said 'we're going to have put him down' but the bear was still in the tree."

She heard three gunshots and was later told the bear was dead.

Holder questioned why the Ministry of Natural Resources was not better prepared to deal with the bear given the fact it had been seen in the area for days.

"If the bear has spotted in Newmarket for three days now, why wasn't someone waiting here with a tranquillizer gun."