No one likes to think about a mother bear and her cute little baby cubs being shot by a conservation officer.
In the drama, the officer’s often the villain, the big mean ogre with a rifle out to annihilate innocent wildlife.
That’s how it would play out in a Disney movie, but as we all know, life is not an animated feature.
In reality, I am certain the officer who shot the mother and two cubs at the Hidden Valley Campground and RV Park felt terrible.
As his boss pointed out, “...every time one of our officers has to shoot a bear it takes a little bit of the heart out of our officers.”
People do not train to become conservation officers so they can shoot animals. They are, however, charged with protecting the public.
The bear that was shot had been the subject of more than 30 complaints, unsuccessful attempts had been made to drive her away from the area. Unfortunately for her, it was finally determined she was too garbage habituated and posed too much of a risk to people and property. We were told the cubs were killed because they couldn’t survive without her.
That makes me sad. It made everyone involved sad.
We know these little cubs are innocent victims. We as society also, I think, feel collective guilt because we know it is our habits, our lifestyle, our developments that have brought us in contact with these magnificent wild animals.
But what would have been said if the conservation officer left that mother bear and her cubs alone, only to have them attack a man, woman or child?
Think of the hue and cry then.
While, I too, would like to see attempts made to relocate or rehabilitate garbage habituated bears, I also know the reality is about who pays for such services. You and I do, through our taxes.
It costs a lot of money for a bear relocation and even more to try and ensure these bears do not simply return to familiar and human-food-filled stomping grounds or become problem bears in other areas. The BC Conservation Service is stretched incredibly thin as it is. The closest base for officers for this area is Vernon, and complaints far outweigh the ability of the service to respond.
Government sets tax priorities and many people don’t want to see an ever-increasing bill to fund services like wildlife rehabilitation of animals, who, let’s face it, can pose a threat to people. We don’t need to look further than the incident that same weekend in Tappen where a man was attacked by a mother bear defending her cub, to know that this is true.
I, too, wish we could do more, wish that we could do better for the wildlife which has been displaced by ever-encroaching humanity. But the reality does not always end like it would in the movies.