The rescue brought out the entire neighbourhood, as tranquilized bears were laid out on a front lawn before being loaded into a special container. That gave people of all ages a chance to touch the bears and take video and photographs.

Conservation officer Terry Myroniuk estimated the mother bear weighed more than 250 pounds.

The mother bear had previously been found in Burnaby in 2008, and Myroniuk said "generally the bears don't get another chance if they're caught twice, but we made an exception because she had three cubs with her."

The mother bear was relocated 100 kilometers away from Burnaby but had returned to the area.

The four bears had to be tranquilized because they weren't coming down from the tree voluntarily.

After the mother bear and one cub had come down, Conservation officers lit off "bear bangers" in an attempt to scare the remaining two cubs in hopes they would come down.

The "bear bangers" caused the two cubs to come halfway down the tree, but were then tranquilized.

Normally, Conservation officers would hold a tarp above the ground under the tree in order to catch the bears after tranquilization, but these bears had become stuck in the branches. Since they were stuck, the officers needed to climb the tree and tie up the bears (separately) in order to rope them down with a pulley system.

Myroniuk said they weren't worried about the bears being severely injured from a fall because there were so many branches that they would hit on the way down.

He said that the cubs had been found this past spring, but at that time they were too small to tranquilize without risking their lives.

The four bears will again be re-located 100 kilometers away, but Myroniuk said he didn't want to give a specific location due to any poachers that might be paying attention. The Conservation officers work out of Maple Ridge but cover everywhere from Port Moody to Mission.

Myroniuk said bears are common in Maple Ridge because there are a number of creeks and drainages around that make it easy for them to travel without being noticed.

He also said Maple Ridge is behind the times a little bit, as cities such as Port Moody and Coquitlam have bylaws preventing people from leaving their garbage out overnight.

"Those cities are going to start experimenting with bear-proof bins, as well."

That's unlike Maple Ridge, where as Myroniuk said, some people tend to leave their garbage out on the street all week long.

The bears may have been attracted to the unpicked fruit, as well. Conservation officers found fruit seeds in their droppings.

Myroniuk wanted to urge people to remove anything in and around their properties that could attract bears because while they can be re-located, translocation isn't good for the bears and it is still dangerous to have bears in the community.