Conservation officers say they had no choice but to shoot and kill two male black bears earlier this week, after the animals broke through fences and tried to pry open doors to homes in Port Coquitlam, B.C.

Officers say the large bears posed a risk to humans, and could not have successfully been relocated away from the city.

"Their behaviour escalated to the point where I decided to remove them from the population," Conservation officer Sgt. Todd Hunter told CTV Vancouver.

One of the bears, a male authorities said weighed about 227 kilograms, was already known in the area.

When it wandered into the north part of the city last year, it forced a school lockdown and road closures before officers could chase it away.



At the time, locals suspected the bear was drunk off of fermented apples.

This year, locals say the two bears were likely lured into residential areas by fruit trees.

B.C. saw a severe drought this summer, which damaged the bears' natural food supply of wild berries, forcing them to seek alternative fare.

Conservation officers say they suspect the bears were also looking for food when they tried to force their way into the homes on Thursday.

According to resident Paula Rosetti, locals are used to seeing bears in the neighbourhood, but rarely are the animals so big -- or so brazen.

Because of this, the recent activity has some residents feeling wary.

"We were just sitting out there with the neighbours and the first gunshot went off," Rosetti said. "I probably jumped about three feet in the air!"

Still, Rosetti says she doesn't blame the bears.

"I feel so badly for these bears, because we are doing nothing but taking away their habitat," she said.

According to the British Columbia Conservation Foundation, the province is home to between 120,000 and 150,000 black bears, and the Conservation Officer reporting line fields anywhere between 14,000 to 25,000 telephone calls about bears each year.

To avoid bear-related conflicts, the foundation urges residents to:

Keep garbage locked up

Pick any ripe fruit or berries so they are not out in the open

Only use birdseed in the winter, when bears are hibernating

Keep barbecues clean

Keep pet food indoors

With files from CTV Vancouver's Peter Grainger