Victoria Animal News Animal news for Victoria and across B.C.
On the afternoon of July 30, 2019 a Conservation Officer Service truck arrived in the Coquitlam neighbourhood of Sumpter Drive and Baker Drive. Susan Flint was on her phone when she heard a commotion, someone shouting “Bear! Bear!” and looked out her window to see armed men on her property. Four Conservation Officers had descended on Sumpter Drive carrying shotguns.
A mother bear with her two small cubs was running down their street, evading the men. The COS later stated that the bears were “not co-operating.”
When Tony Faccin went out his door, where his two young sons were playing, he saw four officers “running like crazy with shotguns.” He watched one of the officers trip, and shouted “Don’t shoot, asshole, kids are around.” He walked to the road and started filming the chaos on his street while his wife took their children inside. Soon four RCMP vehicles arrived and a helicopter was circling overhead. At that time Tony stopped filming.
As the Conservation Officers pursued the bears to Baker Drive, Tony was handcuffed and taken to a nearby RCMP car. An officer uncuffed him and asked to see the video he had taken. Tony complied. Another officer grabbed the phone from his hand. Tony now realizes that it was a ploy to get him to unlock his phone. While in the back seat he heard several shots. It was over for the bear family.
Susan began to walk back to her house after Tony’s arrest and was followed by a police officer. He physically grabbed her and demanded her cell phone. She was also handcuffed and put in a waiting RCMP car for 20 to 30 minutes. She had not taken any videos.
A third neighbour was arrested, but has decided to stay silent.
Susan said she felt the bears had no voice, and she didn’t want them shot by “aggressive” Conservation Officers when she followed the officers at a distance, shouting at them “Don’t shoot the bears.” “They were pumped with adrenaline,” she said.
At the sight of armed men on his street where children are out of school on summer vacation and could be anywhere in the neighbourhood, Tony said “The officers were all fired up, ready to hunt bear. With kids around.”
Both Tony and Susan made a point of bringing up the fact that construction on Como Lake Road has resulted in the closing of the area between Mundy Park and the ravine where the bear family was shot. Tony says “That’s where they lived, between the lake and the ravine. Because they couldn’t get across the road they had to use yards.”
As of this writing the Conservation Officer Service is still holding Susan and Tony’s cell phones. “I’m not afraid to show that video,” said Tony. “They may be, but I’m not.” CBC, CTV and Global News have purchased Tony’s video and their lawyers are working to have the cell phones released.
One BC resident who is very familiar with bear behaviour and with the provincial wildlife management model is Jefferson Bray. He has lived in Bella Coola for fifteen years alongside black and grizzly bears, without a single negative incident. He has used common sense on his property, neither romanticizing nor fearing the animals. He feels the COS should be giving out hefty fines “before bears find our crap lying around,” something he doesn’t see happening in the Bella Coola valley. “Theirs is a reactive, killing model that doesn’t make anyone safer. Quite the contrary they ensure conflict and violence. Yes, get the food cleaned up.
For those that don’t, fine them and make them. That’s why they’re an ‘enforcement’ agency, for people behaviour.”
Over-fishing, commercial berry picking, off-road recreation, resource extraction and widespread housing developments have put ever-increasing pressure on BC wildlife. Their behaviour is changing for their own survival, adapting to a confusing and fast changing world is necessary for them. They are doing their part, let’s do ours’ by holding the Conservation Officer Service to their mandate of human wildlife conflicts prevention so their response isn’t most often lethal.
Our relationship with wildlife that interface with urban areas is changing as the public becomes more educated. It’s time for the COS to overhaul the out-dated and unscientific Matrix that they follow regarding bear encounters. The bears, and the public, deserve better.
Kelly Carson
Victoria Animal News
This is absolutely ridiculous and needs to stop now ! We are at war here. But not with the bears … LEAVE THEM ALONE ! Stop this insane inhumane appalling behaviour … and that’s the humans … not the bears !
This needs to stop, relocation if necessary, but you are killing these animals instead of helping. We can live together through educating the public, and imposing fines when the public does not comply. We have to learn to co-exists not wipe everything out , just because they are creating a problem. It’s not the bear it’s the humans who are the problem
You need to train the conservation officers, because that’s what they are suppose to be doing, not slaughtering everything in site.
This is wrong on so many fronts. We are a small community and four years ago 7 bears were killed for stealing apples. One cub made it out and we protected him. We put signs up on houses and fences that we love bears, all bears, big ones, little ones, apple eaters. It is expected we will pick our crop of apples before the bears get them. You pick them when they’re ready, not when it’s convenient for the CO.
Stop killing all the wildlife there’s trankilizer guns to use for a reason If people stop cutting the forest down maybe the bears wouldn’t be in town looking for food
I have resorted to calling Oregon Fish and Wildlife, Oregon Unfish and UnWildlife they’re constantly killing cougars here… just because someone sees them somewhere and reports it. Not because the Cougars doing anything. They figure any time someone sees a cougar it’s too close to where people are. Really ridiculous. They won’t euthanize them and move them to another area Karen
Stop killing innocent bears.
This is so wrong, the Cubs just from this year,makes me ill
Please stop the killings! It’s important seeing animals free and happy…Animals are responsible for balance in nature and they are connected to our lives…We depend on them and they depend on us.
Do not kill our bears. More education is needed… We live in their homes
Killing this mamma and babies is criminal! Trigger happy, unhappy-with-their-lives conservation officers. Ha! What a joke! What are they conserving?!? The right to kill?!? Disgusting!!!
despicable treatment of these bears … why aren’t residents fined for leaving attractants out … bears were not hurting anyone
We have so much remote land in B.C. Why is relocation seldom considered?? Or rubber bullets to scare them off. We should be proactive in our actions to prevent these incidents and not always lethally reactive when they occur.
Is there not or can we not develop a bear sanctuary? They have them in other countries why not here ?
Or can there not be an increase in city and park staff in the spring summer to help clean garbage, hand out fines and educate people to prevent these incidents.
This problem is not going to go away as we continue developing into their habitat.
Obviously the cheaper and quicker “solution” is to exterminate the wildlife
These officers should be held accountable for their actions. And they call themselves conservation officers? This is unacceptable in our modern society! Get a grip! Your are killing for no good reason. You’re perceiving a threat that’s so minuscule and killing is not the answer. Destructive idiots with guns!
We have taken their homes. We are not responsible with as we leave food outside, garbage unsecured and yet we wonder why we have bear ? Learn to live with the animal , learn about the bear, be bear wise! This is not their fault ! It takes a SWAT team to gun down this beautiful family because of ignorance of people. Educate yourselves and the public!
This is murder. It’s disgusting.
There needs to be another way o removing the bears from public areas. Are they going to kill every bear that wanders into the wrong area. Remember that people are moving more and more into wildlife area.
No words for the ignorance and senseless brutality of these officers killing a harmless mama black bear and her cubs. Plus, putting the entire neighborhood in danger firing lethal weapons in a densely populated neighborhood, while kids were out playing. Then arresting residents who were upset with their reckless and inhumane actions. These officers need to be held responsible.
Black bears are little to no threat to humans. There is so much misinformation about black bears out there, and that info often gets confused with grizzly bears. As noted by the leading black bear wildlife biologist and expert in the U.S., Lynn Rogers, PhD, “black bears are the most timid, tolerant and safe large mammals in North America.” They are more afraid of you, than you are of them.
Way too easy for officers to pull a trigger. The law must change. The bears could have been tranquillized first, the situation assessed before a decision is made. I am ashamed of this practice. Happens way too often.
I find the constant killing of our wildlife horrific. They deserve to live and survive without us complicating and destroying their lives. They were running away, not attacking, this is so wrong on every level. Humans are evil, not animals!
Agree…. Why not start educating yourselves on how to live with animals than just automatically kill them… I really dislike people
Humans have waged a war on wildlife, not conservation officers – we are all guilty. People (all levels of government, developers, homeowners) put bears and other wild animals in undesirable and dire situations. Conservation has the tough and unenviable job of walking a tightrope between the needs and safety of wild animals and humans. I don’t imagine they ever make the decision to kill lightly. They are there to make the tough decision so we don’t have to. While I myself would be gutted to witness these bears being destroyed in my own neighbourhood, I would trust that Conservation has made the decision they needed to make based on the knowledge that they have. Knowledge that bystanders may not have. I understand that these bystanders hated seeing the imminent destruction of this family of bears, but they were absolutely wrong in interfering and potentially causing more harm than good by distracting those officers in a tense situation. These bystanders could be much more effective in saving bears by engaging in activities that would prevent the bears being in that damn situation in the first place! For-thought and prevention, rather than uninformed reaction …
Those COs need to be fired. Running around a neighbourhood with shotguns??? And police cannot seize your phone or view anything on it without a warrant. What the hell is wrong with these idiots??? I would sue both RCMP and the Conservation Service for their actions and demand all officers involved be formally reprimanded. Insane.
Dispicable! What happened to putting the creatures to sleep and settng them free in the wild, away from freaky people. The children are left alone while the parents are detained. Now social services will investigate their parenthood after being detained by police, if this network feels threatened another family destroyed. Those poor bears, diapicable!
The north of Vancouver Island has very few berries this summer because of the long deep freeze we had this past winter. Is it the same for mid and South Island? This makes the bears more desperate for food. So a little bit of compassion CO’s! Put your guns away. Focus on reduction of attractants and relocation.
We need to stop these people from continuing to kill innocent animals
Those trigger happy twits did have alternatives. Bears are ALWAYS welcome in my yard – but I live in Ontario. Time to hire conservation officers with brains and take away their guns.. Also, people should become bear wise. You never see bears driving drunk, molesting children, raping women, peddling drugs to kids. I guess bears are good citizens – so why shoot them. And bears Moms are the very best. They teach their kids how to behave – properly!!
The problem is people and not bears. We should not be paying for govt officials to kill bears. The bear momma has a right to protect her young and to raise them. She needs to feed them. These officers and entire department should be forced to relocate bears they deem (whatever). Shooting should be banned. The public does not support this.