The B.C. government is conducting a review of its controversial predator-kill policy which critics say is “terribly outdated” and weighted in favour of the needless killing of animals. Minister of Environment official Danielle Bell gave no indication that the public would be asked to participate in the process, saying a “stakeholder review process has not been determined.” The Ministry Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations and the Conservation Officer Service are also involved. The province says the review began in 2014, before the international furor over the suspension of conservation officer Bryce Casavant for refusing orders to kill two eight-week-old black bear cubs last month, and could be completed in October. The current policy dates to 2001 and states, in part, that for cubs to be considered as candidates for rehabilitation and release they “must be in good health (of adequate size with no serious injuries or obvious illnesses) and not be habituated to humans or conditioned to human food sources.” Funding for all costs associated with the rehabilitation, release and post-release monitoring of orphaned bear cubs is the responsibility of the rehab facilities. Over the past four years, B.C. conservation officers killed 1,872 black bears and relocated 126, killed 352 cougars and relocated six, and killed 72 grizzly bears and relocated 24. A total of 137 black bears and six grizzlies were taken to rehabilitation facilities. The province released 14 pages of its policy, Preventing and Responding to Conflicts With Large Carnivores, to The Vancouver Sun only after numerous requests over two weeks. The Sun provided a copy to Wayne McCrory, a consulting bear biologist from the West Kootenay region who has worked for the province, municipalities, and First Nations. He said the current policy “has some progressive aspects but is terribly outdated” and that non-lethal options require greater consideration, including the use of trained bear dogs and livestock guard dogs and better non-lethal training for conservation officers. The definition and guidelines for a dangerous predator situation are so “ill-defined” they give officers or livestock owners the green light to “take out a predator such as black bear at any time,” he said. McCrory estimated carnivores avoid people 99 per cent of the time, which means the label “dangerous predator” should be replaced with “hazardous situation.” The emphasis of the policy is on controlling dangerous predators, mostly by lethal means, rather than emphasizing preventive measures. Several studies now indicate that public education only goes so far and there needs to be enforcement of leaving out things such as garbage that attracts bears, he said. Expansion of the Bear Smart program has declined due to lack of provincial funding, including for bear-proof garbage containers and electric fencing, McCrory added. Government statistics show that from 2012 through 2014 officers issued a total of 99 out-of-court tickets and launched four prosecutions under the Wildlife Act related to feeding or attracting dangerous wildlife. Out-of-court tickets typically range cost $230 to $345, Bell said. In Casavant’s case, the mother bear was killed for repeatedly raiding the freezer of a home near Port Hardy. He refused to kill the young cubs because they were still nursing and had not become habituated to human food. He took them to the North Island Wildlife Recovery Centre, where the brother and sister are doing well.

“They’re doing fine, settling in nicely,” centre manager Robin Campbell said Monday, noting the cubs recently received a thumbs up from a veterinarian. “They’re acting like bears, playing and wrestling. There’s a pond for them.” The two are with two other young cubs and will be moved to a larger, more natural, area in a few months before denning for the winter and will be released in summer or fall next year, depending on food availability in the wild. The bears are monitored by cameras in captivity to avoid them becoming accustomed to humans. Sadie Parr, executive director of Wolf Awareness, said revisions to the predator-kill policy are long overdue and she called on the province to adopt best management practices based on the latest science around large carnivore needs and behaviour, to increase provincial responsibility to conserve large carnivores in times of a global decline, and to ensure that animal welfare and ethical practices get top priority. She said the province remains “entrenched in old ways and methods. There is a need to reconnect government methods with science and compassion for other species and ecological processes,” she said. She noted the province uses “sanitizing language” such as control, harvest, and removal — words that indicate killing, sterilizing, poisoning, and “destroying individuals and sometimes entire families after humans have created a situation for interaction.” “The reality is that more human injuries and deaths are caused by bees, dogs, horses, cows, and wild ungulates than large carnivores. The narrative must be changed to allow large carnivores (and all wildlife) to be what they are and not what we want them to be,” she said. Dangerous wildlife should be removed from the language used and replaced with labels such natural predators or large carnivores. The officers who are responsible for carrying out management actions are also understaffed and overwhelmed, leaving prevention at the bottom of the list when it should be at the top, she added. The current provincial policy also states, in part: • Provided that rehabilitation facilities can provide adequate facilities to rear, release and monitor bears, consideration should be given to the rearing and release of orphaned bear cubs that are considered suitable candidates. • Grizzly bear cubs take priority over black bear cubs. • Cubs that are brought to rehabilitation centres must be examined by a veterinarian, after which Ministry of Environment staff will decide whether the cub should be euthanized or reared by the rehabilitation facility for eventual release. • Adequate and suitable facilities must be available at a rehabilitation centre that meet provincial standards for the rearing of bear cubs for release into the wild. • It is mandatory that bears be released in the same general area (within 10 km) that they were captured to avoid genetic dilution of unique populations. • Monitoring is an essential component of rehabilitation and release and no program should be undertaken without the necessary resources in place to conduct post-release monitoring. The monitoring program should be designed by the provincial large carnivore research biologist.