Ask BC Conservation Officers to Stop Killing Bears and Cougars
Our thanks to ADAV’s Research Director, Nicole Corrado for creating the petition below. It only takes a moment to sign.
On Change.org:
In April 2025, a mother black bear was shot to death after knocking over and biting a woman with a dog, leaving three cubs orphaned. The mother bit because she was scared of the dog. She should have been relocated with her cubs. Hopefully the cubs will be sent to a wildlife rehabilitation centre, instead of being shot. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid08fVeJNsJH69V8s2JyJ5uQaxKGTRJvNRfbbH1acUiRRupNFGay2AMWEp6mw7ReAPhl&id=100064708719097
The woman was treated at the hospital with non life threatening injuries.
August 2024, an injured black bear was shot by conservation officers in Coquitlam because of “repeated conflict”. (Killing actually repeats the conflict because it doesn’t remove the attractant and it leaves a niche gap). The bear was entering open garages and being fed watermelon by people because the bear was injured, not because they were a “pest”. One open garage even had a rodenticide bait box outside, a bear attractant. Killing the bear was not “humane” nor “euthanasia”, it was as cruel and ineffective as using a rodenticide bait box.
https://bc-cb.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/digitalAssets/102/102869_BearGarbage.jpg
Punishing residents for compassionate feeding healthy food to injured animals when the province won’t help is lazy and wrong. We would like changes to BC law to allow rehabilitation of bears of all ages, not just cubs. Ontario rehabilitates bears of all ages and soft relocates them if need be. www.bearwithus.org
Last year, the BC Conservation Officer Service killed a record number of black bears. And just recently, a bear cub in Whistler was shot because they were knocking over rubbish bins and wandered into houses. A bear in Smithers was shot for entering garages. A black bear in North Vancouver was shot for biting a woman in her garden, (she was not seriously hurt, and a dog would not be euthanized for a non life threatening bite). These are attractant problems, intentionally feeding problems, and structural problems, not bear problems. https://thefurbearers.com/blog/bcs-top-ten-deadliest-communities-for-black-bears/
Already, several bears and cougars were killed this year. There are no statistics on relocation or other non lethal measures, just shootings of animals. Soon these animals will go extinct , thanks to the extermination by the COS. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/plants-animals-ecosystems/wildlife/human-wildlife-conflict
Killing solves nothing, as it doesn’t remove attractants. And no one wants to call a conservation officer for attractant removal as it will often lead to an animal being shot. Conservation officers are police, and police are investigated when they injure or kill humans. We would like an end to the killings and a third party investigation every time a conservation officer kills or injures an animal, with the goal of ending the killing policy.
Here is a story of police officers doing the right thing by rescuing a bear. https://www.facebook.com/100076382283163/posts/pfbid02yMPyjdnjdf3TXqVkVzMXaTfe2jPNzjF5h6VC3CuQHMLB6AmQGvfJ5yrQMYpYM5hAl/?
