Conservation authorities have successfully captured a black bear that had been standing on top of a garbage truck in downtown Vancouver.

An officer shot the bear with a tranquillizer dart Monday afternoon outside the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

After about 10 minutes, the bear sat down as the sedative took effect, and appeared ready to fall three metres off the back of the truck onto the pavement.

A conservation officer climbed aboard the truck just as the animal was about to teeter over and grabbed it as it collapsed, preventing its fall. Officers then carried the bear to a pickup truck and drove it away.

The black bear had been hunting for food in a dumpster inside the theatre's underground parking lot, witnesses said.

The dumpster contents, including the bear, were tipped into the truck and then the bear climbed out onto the top of the vehicle, when members of the public noticed the animal and called police.

A conservation officer believes the bear hitched a ride in the garbage truck from the North Shore.

The animal, estimated to be about 18 months old, will be released into the wild about 100 kilometres north of Vancouver Tuesday, a conservation officer told CBC News.