Amy Caughlin was driving along 240th Street in Maple Ridge on Wednesday when a trio of bears crossed the road.
She was near McClure Drive, and they popped out of some bushes and walked into the middle of the road and paused the recruit a smaller, trailing member as a large tractor trailer approached.
The three bears slowly proceeded east across the road, together.
“They had just popped their heads out of the bushes. I drove past them and pulled over and shot the video,” Caughlin said. “They are beautiful creatures.”
Maple Ridge and the surrounding area will get two new conservation officers this fall, mainly to deal with bear and human interactions.
Maple Ridge (North Fraser zone) conservation officer Todd Hunter said the new officers will help to deal with the wildlife-human conflicts. The number of those conflicts keeps climbing, with 90 per cent of those calls involving bears.
The North Fraser region stretches from the Tri-Cities through Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge as far as Mission.
In the first 10 months of last year, there were more than 5,381 calls about human-wildlife conflicts, an increase of more than 100 from all of the preceding year.
North Fraser is the busiest region in the province. Out of 20 zones around B.C., it receives 22 per cent of the calls.
In the first 10 months of last year, 25 bears had to be shot in the North Fraser zone.
The hiring will bring the total number of conservation officers in B.C. to 160.