Local conservation officers are investigating after a bear carcass was dumped at a trailhead by the Cranbrook Community Forest earlier this week.
The remains, which included the hide and ribcage, were left in plain sight at a parking lot just off Baker Mountain Road sometime during the night of June 1 or early the following morning.
Jeffrey Scott, a conservation officer based in Cranbrook, said the office had received a few calls about the remains. He added the bear appeared to have been harvested legally—there was no meat that the suspects had left—but noted that disposing the carcass in such a public setting was incredibly disrespectful.
"What is the despicable and disrespectful thing is that it was deposited right at the trail head; people who wanted to use the trail would have to step over this carcass," Scott said.
"So sadly, some disrespectful hunter decided to deposit their waste material from a hunt in a completely inappropriate location for all the public to see, which is pretty sad."
The bear was not killed at the site, just the remains dumped, Scott clarified.
"Somebody would've backed up [in a truck] and dumped it there. There were no drag marks," he said.
It's not the first time that a carcass has been dumped in a public location such as the Community Forest.
"It creates a horrible name for the hunting community, it portrays a pretty poor image for local hunters," he said.