Brady Irwin and the bear

It was June 3, a Monday night blissfully free of City Council meetings.

Ward 2 Councillor Brady Irwin decided to spend the evening at Wishart Park with his wife Martha, their five-year-old Camille and their three-year-old Rory.

It was Martha's birthday. The Irwins got more excitement than they bargained for.

Getting out of their vehicle, the family met three quickly moving teenagers who indicated they'd spotted a bear cub.

The teens were moving toward the animal, not away from it, he recalls.

Brady also spotted the cub, and then saw the mother, some distance away.

Realizing the potential danger when a mother is separated from her cub, the Irwins made a hasty retreat to their vehicle and waited until the animals departed.

Discussed at City Council

Brady Irwin says his family was never in immediate danger, but he was sufficiently rattled by the experience to raise it at Monday night's City Council meeting.

The City pays a contractor $15,000 a year to control nuisance bears, and Irwin wants to know whether the number of sightings is up this year, and whether additional steps can be taken to control them.

"I think it's just a matter of time before we have some bear-related problems," he told SooToday News.

Information from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources will be presented at Council's next meeting.

The bear facts

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