B.C. CONSERVATION OFFICER SUSPENDED AFTER RESCUING CUBS
A Vancouver Island conservation officer suspended without pay after he refused to destroy two bear cubs is a “hero” for risking the loss of his job, according to a wildlife rescue expert.
Bryce Casavant, a provincial conservation officer based near Port Hardy, was tasked over the weekend with assessing two bear cubs who had recently been orphaned.
Their mother was put down after she repeatedly broke into a freezer that held meat on a residential property.
On Sunday, Casavant and the Port Hardy Fire Department returned to the property after receiving reports the cubs had come searching for their dead mother. The frightened bears had climbed a tree and were calling out for her.
“They (firefighters) had their high-angle rescue specialist scale the tree and rappel down on top of the bears to lower them to me. I then tranquilized them by hand,” Casavant told the Campbell River Mirror prior to his suspension.
The bears — a male and a female, each about 20 to 30 pounds — were then taken to a veterinary clinic and checked, before the North Island Wildlife Rescue Association was tapped to care for the bears.
NIWRA owner Robin Campbell said there was nothing out of the ordinary when his organization was asked to take the bears to their facility in Errington, which is one of the largest of its kind in B.C.
“By that time, Bryce had done his investigation on the ground and said, ‘Yeah, these bears are not habituated,’ ” Campbell said. “‘The mother was, but the cubs can be rehabbed.’
“So I said, ‘That’s great. We’ll be up Monday morning to get them.’ ”
Campbell said that when the cubs arrived at his facility, they fled from humans and seemed frightened — a sign that they are not dangerous and did not need to be killed.
Casavant was later suspended, apparently for refusing to destroy the bears. An online petition at Change.org calling for his reinstatement has collected more than 2,300 signatures.
Campbell supported Casavant, and suggested his suspension was financially motivated. Campbell said he believes the environment ministry is eager to dismiss staff in order to cut costs.
“Sometimes, the sad thing is — there are bears that have to be put down,” Campbell said, noting it’s a reality of Casavant’s job.
“There’s no reason for him to put himself in a situation where he’s threatening his own job. The guy’s a hero.”
In May, NDP environment critic Spencer Chandra Herbert read a statement in the legislature from the Society of B.C. Conservation Officers that said inadequate staffing levels are “resulting in higher case loads, slower response times and/or no responses at all.”
Spokesmen for the B.C. Ministry of Environment did not comment on Casavant’s suspension, but provided a statement from Environment Minister Mary Polak that said an investigation had been launched.
“This is a very sad and unfortunate situation with the mother bear and her cubs near Port Hardy,” said Polak.
“These very difficult decisions for animal relocation suitability are made by professionals including senior wildlife biologists and the provincial wildlife veterinarian, along with conservation officers.”
In the meantime, Campbell’s team will continue to care for the cubs until they are ready to be released.