One Nakusp resident has experienced a bear break in, and is fed up.
Early last week John Pazurik woke up to find his outdoor freezer damaged beyond repair, and all of the food inside gone.
The bear consumed approximately $2,000 worth of hamburger, roasts, sausages, bacon, and more.
“First they went into my turkey pen and tore up the self-feeder, but they didn’t touch the turkeys for some reason,” he said. “I guess they didn’t like the taste.”
Bears in this area normally feed on huckleberries up in the mountains, but berry crops at higher elevations failed this year. Because of this, bears have been coming down into areas such as Nakusp, New Denver, and Silverton to find food.
Pazurik has lived here since 1949, and in that time has never once had to deal with bear-related property damage.
Though conservation officers are a phone call away, Pazurik couldn’t be bothered.
“By the time I phone that guy in Revelstoke, all my meat is gone, I would have lost anyways,” he said.
He wants something done in regard to the bears, and his idea is a simple one: Just kill the bears.
Normally if a bear is in the area, residents are urged to pick their fruit, keep garbage inside, and just try to decrease any attractants. This doesn’t sit with Pazurik.
“The bears at the Garlic Fest, if they would have killed a kid would they have said the same thing?” he asked. “No. They would have shot the thing from the tree.”
Because of issues with insurance, Pazurik will be purchasing a new freezer out of his own pocket.
Pazurik does have a plan for what to do if the bears come back around, but would not say what it was because it might incriminate him.