The death of Jeanie, Whistler’s most famous black bear, last week is a “great loss for the whole community” — and one that was preventable, according to a local bear expert who spent 15 years watching and photographing the beloved animal.

Sylvia Dolson, executive director of the Get Bear Smart Society, said if the garbage and other bear attractants had been cleaned up at the Whistler Village restaurants Jeanie was frequenting in the final days of her life, the bear would have stopped returning and getting into conflict with humans.

“If a bear is continually returning to the same location there’s a problem,” Dolson told The Question on Monday (Oct. 24). “The attractant needs to be shut down.

“That, of course, is the No. 1 thing we always need to do.”

Jeanie, who is estimated to be more than 20-years-old, was shot last Thursday (Oct. 20) after conservation officers determined her long and increasing history of conflict made her a threat to public safety.

Insp. Chris Doyle said Jeanie was captured and put down “after several incidents of escalating and repetitive conflict of a serious nature.”

“(That included) breaking into buildings — it had broken into the Roundhouse and accessed food, it had bluff-charged employees in the Roundhouse and outside of the Roundhouse,” said Doyle. “The bear was also in the Village, had charged people in the Village, had broken into Milestones on a couple of occasions and had charged people outside Milestones as well.”

Doyle said the conservation officer service was also following up on a report that Jeanie had broken into the GLC and been pepper sprayed last week as well.

Despite Jeanie’s long conflict history, Doyle said conservation officers have always been able to manage her with hazing and short-distance relocations. However, he said those measures were deemed inadequate to deal with her increasing interaction with humans and civilization.

“The conflict level had escalated to the point where it was definitely a threat to human safety,” said Doyle, who noted that special efforts were made for several years to avoid destroying Jeanie due to her prominence in the community.

“We’ve done everything possible within our means to avoid this over the years — not just this year, but in previous years,” said Doyle. “She’s been the focus of specific hazing, non-lethal programs. There had been people hired specifically to keep Jeanie out of the Village at times over the years.”

Dolson said she was on vacation on Vancouver Island when she received a call last Thursday advising her that Jeanie and her female cub had been trapped and “release was not an option” for conservation officers.

Dolson and others at the Get Bear Smart Society immediately started working to find a temporary captive location for Jeanie and the cub in order to buy her some time for a more permanent solution. A facility in Smithers agreed to take both animals, but operators did not have permits in place to accept an adult black bear, Dolson said. An application to the B.C. Fish and Wildlife Branch was denied.

Other options were considered, but nothing could be organized in “a few short hours,” Dolson said. She found out at about 5:30 p.m. Thursday that Jeanie had been shot.

“It was just the most horrible news I could possibly hear. On a personal level I’m deeply saddened,” Dolson said. “Over 15 years… I spent countless hours photographing her, watching her raise seven litters of cubs with so much patience and care.”

People in Whistler and beyond are sharing in that sadness, as media reports of Jeanie’s death have spread across the country. Jeanie was extremely tolerant of the presence of humans in her mountain territory, having “met” thousands of people on bear viewing tours, Dolson said. The animal didn’t run away when people came near, allowing them to photograph her and learn about the nature of black bears by watching.

“I’ve had dozens and dozens of emails with people’s condolences and hopes that we can do better in the future,” Dolson said. “I can only hope that her spirit will live on forever.”

The Get Bear Smart Society will discuss next week the possibility of hosting a memorial event for Jeanie, she added. In the meantime, a memorial fund has been set up so people can donate to continue the society’s work of reducing human-bear conflicts.

Meanwhile, Jeanie’s cub has been relocated to the Critter Care Wildlife Society in Langley and she will be released in the spring.

Doyle said conservation officers are hopeful the cub will get a better chance at life than some of Jeanie’s past offspring.

“Unfortunately, all of (her) cubs that we know of have not survived, either. They had to be destroyed because of their own conflict levels from what they’d been taught, killed by predators or killed by motor vehicles,” he said.

Dolson said “tremendous progress” has been made in Whistler in efforts to keep garbage and other attractants secure from bears, but it wasn’t enough to save Jeanie in the end. The animal was merely following her instincts to get food — a strategy that proved lethal.

All local bears are facing similar challenges, as this season has presented the greatest natural food failure in 18 years, she added.

Moving forward, Dolson said it’s time re-evaluate all aspects of managing life in bear country. Those who manage wildlife need to re-evaluate their approach, Whistler’s waste management system needs to be reviewed, residents need to take another look at their properties to ensure there are no attractants and businesses need to accept the additional costs and responsibilities for securing waste, she said.

“Jeanie is a bear that allowed us into her life to learn more about managing bears in general. That was a gift she gave us,” Dolson said. “We need to learn from what happened and move forward with an improved approach.”

So far this year, 11 bears have been killed as a result of conflict with people, including Jeanie, Dolson said.