It happened a few years ago – we had just cut down our crab-apple tree as part of the “Removing Wildlife Attractants” program. It was a beautiful tree but in order not to attract bears into the neighbourhood we had to remove the fruit every year as it began to ripen and dispose of it in special bear proof food waste bins. It became too much to handle, so, unfortunately, the tree had to go. As a personal reconciliation I spent $300 on a nice maple tree and several shrubs which I planted in our backyard.

Our house is built on a slope and adjacent to a public walkway. Our neighbours, Roger and Jacquie, had their house next to ours but on the other side. There is a corridor between our properties which also serves as a shared access path to our backyards. Our backyards are completely private but we don’t have it fenced in.

That day, our neighbour, Roger, came over and warned us about an aggressive elk in the area....