Photo: YouTube

A B.C. conservation officer suspended without pay is back on the payroll after refusing to euthanize two orphaned bear cubs.

Following widespread public outrage, the Government and Service Employees’ Union confirmed Wednesday that Bryce Casavant is being paid again, but remains suspended pending an investigation into the incident.

The reversal comes after an online petition supporting Casavant gathered nearly 50,000 signatures.

The incident happened near Port Hardy over the weekend, when the cubs' mother was destroyed after getting into a freezer and eating salmon, but Casavant refused to euthanize the cubs.

“It’s always a very difficult situation. It’s a situation that no conservation officer wants to be in,” said Chris Doyle, the Conservation Officer Service's acting deputy for provincial operations.

“Obviously, the preference is to keep the bears alive and wild and to prevent conflicts from happening in the first place,” he told CTV.

“The initial information is that the bears were exposed to conflict, they had some level of habituation and food conditioning,” he said.

Casavant took the cubs to the North Island Wildlife Recovery Association rehabilitation facility.

The facility’s founder, Robin Campbell, said the cubs could be released next summer, and defended Casavant, calling his suspension “unbelievable.”

– with files from CTV Vancouver