The bear that was put down in Kimberley earlier this month was not just getting into garbage, says Conservation Officer Joe Caravetta, he entered someone's home.

"He actually broke into a person's residence, into a solarium," he said.

Caravetta said that the bear was a six to eight year old male and obviously habituated to seeing humans as a source of food.

"It's indicating to me that it was a habituated bear. Bears don't normally stomp into someone's house. That's learned behaviour."

Caravetta said there were numerous sightings and complaints at the end of April and early May.

"With the prolonged winter bears are scrambling hard to find food. In recent days things are greening up so that's good. We haven't had any complaints in the last four or five days."

Last year, the Ministry of Environment's Conservation Officer Service received 23,240 reports of bear sightings (between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2011). During that time, conservation officers attended 2,827 incidents in which bears were acting aggressively or public safety was an issue. As a result, 120 bears were relocated, while 675 bears had to be destroyed.

Though there has been a downward trend over the last 15 years in the number of problem bears killed.

Last year's number was higher because of poor availability of natural foods, which meant bears were searching out other, non-natural food sources.

The most effective and natural way to prevent conflicts with bears in urban areas is to put away food attractants such as garbage, bird seed, compost and fruit. In communities where attractants are managed properly, there has been a decline in related bear-human conflict and the number of bears that have to be destroyed.

In communities around the province where there are high incidences of human-bear conflict, residents can learn more about avoiding conflict by talking to their local Bear Aware Community Coordinator. Bear Aware is an educational program, owned and managed by the British Columbia Conservation Foundation (BCCF). Bear Aware is designed to prevent and reduce conflicts between people and bears in communities.

Kimberley's Bear Aware coordinator is Shaunna McInnis.