Multiple youth bear maced at May 24 weekend field party in Torbay

Abby Cole · CBC News

· Posted: May 18, 2025 2:44 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary are reporting that a carnivore macing incidental occurred at a May 24 play tract enactment successful the Town of Torbay on the evening of May 17. 

According to a RNC overnight enactment report, astatine 10:36 P.M. patrol services responded to reports of aggregate younker getting carnivore maced, and 1 younker wounded. 

RNC communications officer, Const. James Cadigan, was incapable to corroborate to CBC News the origin of the 1 wounded younker oregon if determination are immoderate younker successful hospital.

He says determination are presently nary arrests.

According to Parks Canada, carnivore spray is typically used to deter assertive wildlife and it does truthful by rapidly releasing a ample unreality of capsicum spray that volition origin a bear's eyes and tegument to sting and person trouble breathing. 

Cadigan says the RNC is asking that anyone who has accusation that would let them to enactment the public's information to interaction them.

Ahead of the agelong play connected May 15, the RNC enactment retired a informing astir the risks of hosting and attending underage parties. 

"Unsupervised parties including tract parties are unsafe for everyone," wrote Cadigan successful the release. "Parents and spot owners are warned that they tin beryllium held liable successful the lawsuit of wounded and death."

Some of the risks see challenges for exigency responders to find the incident, nary occurrence safety, nary assemblage controls, nary information and nary nutrient oregon portion controls. 

On Saturday, successful response to a question astir akin events being planned for Sunday evening, Cadigan said that the constabulary person these aforesaid concerns. 

Cadigan besides noted that determination is no secret determination for tract parties. He said owed to societal media, determination is ever a mode to find retired wherever these parties are located. 

The incidental remains nether investigation by the RNC's Criminal Investigation Division. 

Torbay students blamed, says parent

Torbay resident, Melodie King, says she was saddened erstwhile she saw the reports of a convulsive incidental happening successful Torbay. 

"It's upsetting and I would similar that they not big parties successful Torbay," said King. "They are not from Torbay." 

King has a girl astatine Holy Trinity High School who was not astatine the enactment connected May 17. King says the enactment was not held by Holy Trinity students, rather students from different precocious schoolhouse extracurricular of Torbay. 

"They're coming into Torbay ... and not acting appropriately and making our teenagers look atrocious due to the fact that radical are gonna instantly presume its Torbay teenagers," said King.

She said students successful Torbay will usage different determination to big tract parties and that her daughter's friends will usually instrumentality to the enactment determination to cleanable up. 

King says she is not against tract parties, "as agelong arsenic they're liable and having a bully time, and past if determination is simply a mess, to cleanable it up."

Now, King says she plans connected contacting the Town of Torbay to inquire that they enactment a locked gross successful the country wherever the tract parties are taking place. 

"Need to gross it disconnected and unopen down that country completely," said King.

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