A bear was strolling on the MacGregor Golf Club Monday. MacGregor resident Danny Nock was there and took some pictures.

"My wife and I were golfing together. We were just finishing up on the 8th hole, and going toward the 9th hole and heard some crashing in the bush. There was the bear. It walked from, I think, about the 9th hole over the 8th hole. Kind of stood around for a while, and then turned around and went back. A couple of people earlier said that's where they saw the bear -- just kind of walking back and forth."

Photo courtesy of Danny Nock

Danny NockNock notes it started gathering some attention.

"As we were leaving it was creating a bit more of an attraction I guess. There was a bunch of people with golf carts heading over that way to see the bear. There was a few people on the service road with trucks. It looked like maybe they were trying to either contain it or scare it off the golf course, trying to get it to move on. And then when we got home, which was just a couple of minutes later, we heard that somebody had shot the bear, which was really unfortunate."

Photo courtesy of Danny Nock

He adds he's accustomed to encountering wildlife and never a bad experience.  When people told him the bear was around the 8th hole, he was excited to get a glimpse of it. He says the fellow who shot the animal likely felt it was the best thing to do, but says it could have been handled better. Nock notes he heard it wasn't a game control professional who shot it, but that was only hearsay. Nock adds he thinks the bear was there for at least an hour and that its den was likely nearby.

MacGregor Golf Club manager Alejandra Suderman says she hadn't heard about the bear until it had already been killed. She notes she was told the bear tried to cross the highway, but kept returning to the course. Suderman says no golfers were in jeopardy.

A provincial spokesperson informed us that RCMP alerted Manitoba Sustainable Development regarding the bear's presence after it was reported to have almost caused an accident on the TransCanada highway.  They said the bear was seen heading towards the community, and RCMP planned to chase the bear away from town. 

However, less than an hour later RCMP were advised a resident from the McGregor area put the bear down after it allegedly acted aggressively toward a woman in the community.  After feeling the bear posed an imminent threat to the community or passing motorists on Hwy #1, the individual felt he had no option but to put it down. Conservation officers attended, spoke with the citizen and were satisfied that no further action or enforcement was necessary.