It's not very often High River gets bear tourists, but Friday July 19, a young black bear came through the Town's north west on a visit.

The bear, which shall for the remainder of the story be named 'Barry',  likely came from the river and smelled the Riverside Community Gardens and stuck around the area, though he refused to comment on the motives of his visit.

Residents first noticed him around 7:00 a.m in the green space behind the Notre Dame Collegiate School.

RCMP and Fish and Wildlife were notified, and due to the potential of a bad scenario, rushed to the scene.

Once on scene, police discovered their new fluffy friend 'Barry' wandering the backyards of residents near the Riverside Community Gardens.

RCMP and Alberta Fish and Wildlife Officers chased the bear up a spruce tree to try and contain the situation.

Fish and Wildlife Officer Philip Marasco had to tranquilize 'Barry' before he could attempt a rescue.

In that time, the High River Fire Department was called in with their ladder truck to assist in Barry's removal.

The ladder slowly swiveled over the landowners fence and towards the tree top and when safe, Marasco started his climb.

Carrying a thick yellow nylon rope, Marasco approached 'Barry' and wrapped him in the rope, trying to safely extricate him.

Barry however, was having no part of safe extrication and wanted to make things a little more exciting, when he plunged to the ground with a heavy thud as he landed in the soft grass below.

"It was a nice large tree with long sweeping branches so it was a pretty safe tree for him be in." Marasco says "I attempted to put a tow rope around his shoulders so I could lower him to the ground but he slipped out and fell. Fortunately, the tree had those long soft branches so I had very little concern about him falling out of the tree, he essentially slid down the branches and landed on the grass quite softly."

Luckily the firefighter below him was quick thinking and leapt out of the way prior to becoming Barry's human landing pad.

Marasco scrambled down the ladder as RCMP and Firefighters wrapped the very sleepy Barry in a heavy blanket and lifted him over the fence and onto the green space behind the home.

Following a quick series of checks and tests (razor sharp teeth - check, long curvy claws - check, thankfully still sleeping - double check) Marasco slipped a blind fold over Barry's eyes and tagged him with a tracker in the ear.

Wires were wrapped around his human hand sized paws and Barry was put into the back of Marasco's truck and driven to bear jail, where he'll sleep it off and wake up groggy and likely a little sore in an hour or so.

Marasco says Barry will be relocated to a nice spot with mountain views.

"He's going to go west into Kananaskis where there's some far reaching spots that we can get to where he'll be away from all of the trails and everything else out there. He's going to a pretty isolated location."

Resident Ann Lang says she's never seen anything quite like this before.

"I've seen a red fox in here before but never a bear!" Ann laughs, "I came out and saw the firetruck and was taken aback by all the activity! I thought to myself "Oh my!"

As for the Firefighters, Deputy Acting Chief Trevor Allan says this was a first for them as well.

"We've been to so, so many calls about cats being stuck in trees but never a bear, this is definitely a first."

Barry was all black except for a thin white crest on his chest.

He was estimated to be about 16-18 months old and wasn't digging in any garbage at the time he was found.

Marasco says it is possible to have wildlife like bears, cougars or moose in High River.

Any dangerous wildlife sightings can be reported to the report a poacher line 1-800-642-3800 or to the local RCMP.