The town of Hinton had some visitors of the four-legged variety last week, as several black bears were seen in town.

According to Alberta Fish and Wildlife, four black bears – one sow and three cubs near the Hinton Golf Club and a male black bear near the hospital were spotted last week.

Fish and Wildlife officers set up a culvert trap near the golf course, and on Wednesday (Aug. 26) the female bear had been trapped.

“The sow was trapped, and the cubs were just kind of wandering around the trap area there. They ran up into a tree and we tranquilized them in the tree. They were large enough that we couldn’t handle them (without tranquilizing),” said fish and wildlife officer Adam Jalbert.

“We released them the morning of the 27th and when we got back we tranquilized another mature bear from the hospital area in Hinton.”

Jalbert said they have had one incident where a bear has been seen trying to get into a garbage can, but for the most part they have not become accustomed to human food.

“For the most part these bears are wandering in along the greenbelt that goes right through the middle of Hinton, and it’s very good berry habitat, a lot of buffalo berries through the power line and pipeline. They are basically just feeding along that power line, and then they just end up right in the middle of town. I don’t know if they even realize it until it’s too late,” Jalbert said.

The sow bear and cubs were released north of Grande Cache on Thursday (Aug. 27), and when fish and wildlife officers returned they were called to the male black bear near the hospital. Jalbert said they chased the male bear up a tree and tranquilized it.

None of the bears are collared, and Jalbert said they do not collar any black bears, but said they had caught the sow bear once before last year.

Residents are reminded to make sure their garbage is placed in bear-proof bins and that food is not left outside for bears in the area to find and get habituated to.