Officials with Saskatchewan Environment are hoping that as the berry season gets rolling this summer, the number of bear sightings in the La Ronge area will drop off.
Conservation officer Derek Keast says there have been about 90 reports of bear sightings around the town and 30 instances of bear traps being deployed.
Keast says as of yesterday, nine bears had been destroyed, seven by conservation officers and two by members of the public.
“The first one that we put down was back in May and so they haven’t all just happened at once, it has been spread out over the course of the summer”.
Keast adds following up on the sightings and setting out bear traps is turning out to be a time-consuming process.
“The bears have taken up a considerable amount of officer time and we’re hoping that we are on the downhill slide and we can spend some more time on our traditional duties”.
He says it would also be a big help if sources of food like garbage were stored properly and did not attract bears.