News » The BC Black Bears – a Saga Fit for Hollywood





Imagine seeing the preview for a movie whose plot line goes like this:

A woman befriends several bears, feeding them dog food and letting them roam free around her rural British Columbia homestead. Her evil boyfriend and his buddies use the property to grow drugs and heartlessly use the bears as “guards” to keep people away from the operation. Then the police swoop in.

Now imagine the plot thickening as the police are unsure of what to do with the bears, who are now tame, and then are duped by the evildoers into all leaving the station at once to respond to a fake emergency, allowing the nefarious gangsters to slip into the police station and steal back their goods. They’re later caught as the police (likely lead by a gritty detective type) track them down and find a weapons stash that includes explosives and guns galore. Meanwhile, the bears… nobody knows what to do with the bears. Until a brave woman decides to take to the streets to raise awareness and get these bears cared for.

That story would be based on true events, though obviously embellished for the camera. The saga unfolds in British Columbia as about a dozen black bears were (mostly) tamed by a woman feeding them dog food while she and her compatriots allegedly grew marijuana and used the bears as guards.

When police raided the place, they took the marijuana (including some that had been dried and processed) and cited, but turned loose the suspects. The ganja was locked into the police locker at headquarters as evidence for trial. Then police turned their attention to what they should do with the black bears.

Meanwhile, the suspects decided to get their property back and staged a daring plan. They called the police out on a false emergency and then raided the police station (now empty) and grabbed most of their stuff. When police returned, they were met with open doors and empty lockers.

Tracking down the goods, they found them in a home which had an electronic surveillance system, several loaded guns, a grenade, and stolen dynamite, likely from a nearby mine. One suspect was arrested and the news went out that the cops once again had their man and his weed.

But don’t forget the bears. As the crime drama unfolds, the bears, who are now used to having humans feed them, are still wandering the lands around the grow site, unsure of what to do. The wildlife authorities hint that the bears may return to the wild on their own, but can’t all be relocated because of lack of funding. Someone says the “kill” word as a possible last resort for the bears, so they would no longer pose a threat to people in the area.

This prompts a woman to come forward with a Facebook page and petition to save those bears. The petition calls for Canadian officials to move the bears to a safe area or find a reputable sanctuary to house them in. Neither of which the Wildlife Ministry says they have the budget to do.

Interesting, since the cops appear to have a good-sized budget for finding grow operations and shutting them down..

Update 09/01/10: According to the Associated Press, the bears will be fed and cared for on the property. They will be slowly weaned off of their human-supplied food until they hibernate for the winter. When they emerge in the spring, it’s hoped that they’ll disperse into the wilderness as bears normally do.

[source CBC News]

Tags: bears, Canada, funny, offbeat