The latest bear sighting in the North Okanagan is a cub perched atop a power pole.

(CHARLOTTE HELSTON / iNFOnews.ca)

UPDATE: Conservation officers are transporting an orphaned bear cub to a rehabilitation centre.

It took some time to get the bear, who was perched atop a power pole on Highway 6 in Lumby, down. Const. Mike Richardson, with the conservation service, says the power line was live, so they had to wait for B.C. Hydro to cut the power.

“We were worried about the bear electrocuting himself,” Richardson says.

Officers attempted to encourage the cub down by looping a snare pole around his leg, but he wouldn’t budge.

Eventually, he came down on his own, scampering off into a nearby field. Conservation officers tailed him, managed to get a few tranquilizer darts in him, and corralled him into a cage for transport.

“He’s not able to survive on his own,” Richardson says. “If his mom was around, she would have come and picked up him.”

Residents reported seeing the cub and its mother in a nearby corn field, but the crop was recently harvested and since then, no one has seen the mother bear. For the past four days, the cub has been hiding out in trees and atop power poles.

The cub will be taken to the Northern Lights Wildlife Shelter in Smithers and kept there for a few years, until he’s old enough to take care of himself and be released.

2:26 p.m. Oct. 1

LUMBY - Conservation officers are on scene deciding what to do about a bear cub hanging out on top of a power pole in Lumby.

Sgt. Josh Lockwood, with the conservation service, says the bear has been around for the past four days, alternating between trees and power poles. His, or her, current perch is a hydro pole at Highway 6 and Creighton Valley Road.

“He’s getting himself elevated,” Lockwood says.

Seeking high hide-outs means the bear is looking for safety. Lockwood says he may have lost his mother. Busy traffic and resident dogs could also be driving him up the power poles.

Lockwood says the cub and its mother had been seen living in a nearby cornfield which was harvested last week. Since then, the cub has been alone, seeking refuge in high places.

Because he’s a young bear, Lockwood says he’s “absolutely not” dangerous.

Stay with InfoTel News as this story develops.

This is the second unusual bear sighting in recent months. The other was an encounter between a bear and a horse. 

To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infotelnews.ca, call (250)309-5230 or tweet @charhelston.

News from © iNFOnews, 2013