2 bears hit a trampoline near Vancouver — but get the bounce from owner

A CBC News host was surprised to find two unlikely trampoliners in her backyard Wednesday night.

Sarah Galashan has lived in the area for years and is no stranger to bear encounters on her property, but she says finding them on her kids' play structure was a first.

"We live right on a greenbelt ... so it's not to be unexpected," she said an interview.

"But we have never … that trampoline gets left open all the time and we have never seen bears climb in."

Galashan, a host for CBC's News Network, lives in Coquitlam, a primarily suburban city on the northeastern side of Metro Vancouver.

In the video, she films the two bears walking — and sometimes flopping — on the trampoline. At one point, one starts to chew on the netting and there is also a brief moment where they wrestle with each other.

After about 20 seconds of filming, she can be heard firmly telling the bears "out you come!" as they meander across the bouncy surface.

"That's right yes! Good, good, there you go," she shouted as one of the bears exits the trampoline through the safety netting that surrounds it.

"I'm not a bear whisperer, I'm a bear-yeller," she said.

B.C.'s conservation officer service says bear encounters are to be expected when cities interface with greenbelts but the key is to take steps to make sure they don't become habituated to humans.

Those steps include avoiding the use of bird feeders, making sure garbage is not accessible and picking fruits and berries that might attract them to the neighbourhood.

Galashan says bear encounters are so frequent in the area she lives that she's no longer afraid of the animals when they are simply passing through, and has taught her kids about bear safety.

Galashan says she is careful not to put out garbage that could attract bears until just before it's picked up.

"I know they're not there for me, they're just looking for food and so we do everything we can to mitigate that."