Four bears destroyed, 3 people arrested in rough day for conservation officers
VANCOUVER — British Columbia’s Conservation Officer Service said four bears were destroyed after two unrelated incidents, one of which involved the arrest of three people over allegations that they tried to obstruct the work of their officers.
Insp. Murray Smith said two men and a woman in Coquitlam were taken into custody and charged Tuesday with obstructing a conservation officer for allegedly stepping between the officers and a mother black bear with two cubs.
Officers were trying to direct the severely habituated, garbageraiding bears up a tree so they could be tranquilized and killed, but the alleged interference put officers and the public at risk, Smith said during a conference call with reporters.
He described an equally challenging bear encounter faced by conservation officers on the same day, 200 kilometres away on a remote section of the Sunshine Coast north of Powell River.
A 45-year-old Quadra Island man had been attacked by a threeto five-year-old grizzly on Monday. But despite injuries to his legs and torso, the man had managed to slash the bear with a knife, scaring it off.
“The Conservation Officer Service attended to the location Tuesday morning and located a grizzly bear, which had begun to stalk the officers from the rear while they were searching for the bear in the forest,” Smith said.
The healthy, male bear was destroyed. Smith said officers discovered it had a significant neck wound, confirming that it was the animal injured the day earlier during the unprovoked attack on the Quadra Island man.
A necropsy was being conducted, but results were not available Wednesday.
The injured man was being treated in hospital for his injuries and was expected to make a full recovery, Smith said, adding that the service was still trying to determine what prompted the attack.
He said the grizzly was killed because it was threatening the conservation officers. The sow and seven-month-old cubs were destroyed because they were no longer fearful of humans and had become habituated to human garbage.
“They should be fairly healthy, quite robust bears, about 50 pounds,” Smith said, describing the cubs.
“Apparently, these bears were half that weight, undersized and appeared undernourished.”
The Conservation Officer Service was also within its rights to seek the arrest of the three residents who allegedly interfered and to seize their cellphones, Smith told reporters.
“Under provincial legislation, the Wildlife Act of British Columbia, as well as the Criminal Code of Canada, there is authority there to seize evidence associated with the commission of a crime. And in this case, this is an investigation associated to a criminal offence.”
The phones would be returned once investigators determine whether any evidence of obstruction exists, Smith said.