There was an uninvited guest to a 3-year-old's birthday party Saturday afternoon in the south end of Ottawa. It was a black bear and you will never believe how he made his entrance. The bear was sighted outside several homes in Manotick over the weekend on Maplehill Way, then Barnsdale. For Natalia Maddison, it will be a birthday party that she never forgets; the day the little black bear crashed her party.

‘Maybe he was under the trampoline, I don't know where he goed,’ says little Natalia distractedly, as she plays on the swing. When you’re this age, a black bear sighting is no big deal.

‘Mom, keep pushing me,’ she urges her mother Anna Maddison. From Anna’s perspective, and her neighbour’s across the street, though, the bear sighting is pretty crazy.

‘We've been here since 1971, says neighbor Andy Bond, ‘this is the first bear we've seen here.’

It may be the first bear in the area but not its first appearance Sunday. It literally "dropped in" unexpectedly at Natalia's birthday party on Saturday. The adults were cooking up food on the barbecue. The kids were on an inflatable slide when a tree suddenly started falling.

‘The tree came down and grazed the big inflatable slide we had here,’ says Anna, as she points to a 15’ foot tree lying on the ground, ‘and I made a joke, “is there a bear back there or something?”’

A few minutes later, the guests spotted the bear running around the front yard. The party ended inside the house. But the next day, the bear was back, under the trampoline. Natalia was the one who spotted him.

‘I saw a bear, he went in the bushes, you couldn't see him,’ she says.

Andy Bond sure saw him and shot some video of him devouring their bird seed. He estimates the bear was about 2 years old.

‘After a couple minutes, it came back again, grabbed the feeder, made off with all the suet,’ says Bond. ‘It wasn't scared at all.’

Bear sightings are up across the province this spring, according to the OPP. Jackie Sisson sent video to CTV Ottawa of a bear they spied in Stonebridge yesterday and today near Rustwood Private. And Darren Curry snapped a photo of a bear in their front yard near the river and the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority.

Sgt. Peter Leon with the Ontario Provincial Police says an unusual spring is contributing to all the bear sightings, ‘There really has been no consistent warm weather which hasn't allowed berries to grow which bears eat upon coming out of hibernation, so the bears are desperate,’ he says.

Desperate bears sometimes require desperate measures. Police in Newmarket killed a bear Sunday, in the backyard of a home in York. The bear had scrambled up a tree and was enclosed in the backyard. Police, concerned for the public’s safety, decided to shoot the animal.

Anna Maddison is now worried about Natalia's safety, fearing the bear will be back. She'll be guarding her kids like a mama bear.

‘It's okay maybe once to see a bear come through your yard but I hope we don’t see it again,’ she says.

Sgt. Leon says there are ways to ensure that. He recommends people in areas prone to bear put away their bird feeders and ensure their barbecues are free of any grease. Otherwise, he says, people may be surprised by an unexpected bear visit at their home.

OPP have sent out this fact sheet to media:

Ontario and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) are reminding people to take simple precautions this spring to prevent attracting black bears as they come out of hibernation.

The potential for human-bear conflict increases when there is little natural food available for bears. If this happens, black bears will search for other food sources, such as garbage and bird feed, which can draw bears to populated areas.

Follow these simple instructions to minimize the chances of attracting bears:

§ Store garbage in waste containers with tight-fitting lids.

§ Put out garbage only on the morning of pickup.

§ Put away bird feeders. Seed, suet and nectar also attract bears.

§ Pick fruits and berries as they ripen — don’t let them rot on the ground.

§ Clean outdoor barbecue grills after each use, including the grease trap underneath. Bears will be drawn by smells from great distances, including grease and food residue on grills.

§ Keep dogs on leash; sometimes bears will follow off-leash dogs back to you.

Bears entering a populated area are only a danger if they pose an immediate threat to your personal safety or that of the general public.

QUOTES

“By taking some simple steps everyone can help avoid human-bear conflicts. These steps will help to make your home, neighbourhood, business or schoolyard less attractive to bears.”

— Bill Mauro, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry

“I urge Ontarians to take simple precautions and reduce their interactions with bears. If a bear becomes an immediate threat to public safety, OPP officers will respond in our jurisdiction to protect citizens with the assistance of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.”

— Vince Hawkes, Commissioner, Ontario Provincial Police

QUICK FACT

§ Since 2004, Ontario’s Bear Wise program has been educating people about bears, how to avoid attracting bears and how to prevent human-bear conflicts.

§ The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry and OPP have agreed on the roles and responsibilities for both organizations to help the public understand which organization to contact when they encounter a bear.

§ If a bear is posing an immediate threat to public safety by exhibiting threatening or aggressive behaviour, call 911 or your local police. At the request of police, during daylight hours the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry will respond to emergency situations to assist.

§ For non-emergencies, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry operates the toll-free, 24/7 Bear Reporting Line (1-866-514-2327) and the Bear Wise website to provide the public with information and advice.

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