On March 20, 2018 Bears Matter proudly contributed a total of $9,700 to nine bear conservation organizations working with six of the eight species of bears. Listed below are the nine worthy and honourable organizations Bears Matter has supported and worked with for over ten years. Please check them… Read More »Bears Matter Donates Funds to Nine Bear Conservation Organizations
Dear Readers,
Bears Matter closes its fundraiser after 10 years and more than $70K raised for bears! The Bears Matter Fundraiser was hosted by the Country Club Centre in Nanaimo for the last eight years. Of course Bears Matter will continue to support bears behind the scenes and help with various campaigns and fundraising goals of individual grassroots organizations.
A Gigantic “Thank you and Bear Hug” to all who supported this fundraiser, both on the North Shore and in Nanaimo! A Special Shout-out goes to Dave Mills and staff at Country Club Centre, my dear friend Christine Mc and of course to Bears Matter’s ‘Bear Angel’ Karen McKee and the Warm Buddy Company of North Vancouver- without these individuals and their respective companies this fundraiser would not have been possible.
When he refused to kill two orphaned bear cubs, B.C. conservation officer Bryce Casavant put his career on the line. But he also sparked a needed debate about the morality of killing “problem” animals.
The incident that triggered this controversy occurred near Port Hardy three weeks ago, after the mother of the cubs was shot for raiding a freezer. Despite being ordered to destroy the eight-week-olds, Casavant took them to a local animal shelter for treatment.
For this act of human decency, Casavant was suspended. He remains at home while the Environment Ministry, where he works, conducts an assessment of his actions.
Read More »Times Colonist Editorial: Bear Killings are a Moral Issue
From: Barb Murray <[email protected]>
Date: 15 July, 2015 11:03:20 PM PDT
To: “<[email protected]>Cc: Jane Thornthwaite MLA <[email protected]>
Subject: Successful Interventions by previous Ministers/Premier in wrong minded COS cub killing policy
Dear Ms. Stilwell,
After your response to me I would like to share with you some background and the real possibility of a reprieve for the two orphan cubs in Errington and for other orphaned cubs across BC. It appears you may not have been briefed fully by the COS or your support staff.
http://www.pqbnews.com/opinion/letters/317838591.html in response to article July 14th: Famous Bear Cubs Calling Errington Home for Now by Carli Berry http://www.pqbnews.com/news/315038451.html
Dear Editor,
In 2004 I was involved in a ‘save the cubs’ campaign on the North Shore, very much like the one playing out in Errington at this present time, minus social media.
Our conservation officer killed a yearling cub and a cub of the year with a lethal injection of a tranquilizer drug, kids and media watching.
A short time later another cub of the year was rescued by a District of North Vancouver park ranger and myself and then he too was killed in front of us because he was deemed ‘habituated’ and ‘food conditioned’ by the powers that be in Victoria.
That was the straw that broke the public confidence in the conservation officer service (COS) to do the right and humane thing. Intuitively, the public understand what we in the bear world know to be true: cubs of the year (COY) are not ‘habituated’ to humans forever or ‘food conditioned’ to garbage forever if rehabbed properly and given a remote location release.
This has been proven time and time again over many years with thousands of cubs of the year being successfully released around the world regardless of their early experience before 12 months of age.
There are many experts who have compiled and reported on the data and the Ministry of the Environment have these reports.
So why do they not set policy which reflects known science? Why does the COS create such a long, drawn-out media frenzy over two tiny cubs? It boggles my mind. Here we are 11 years later fighting again to save cubs from a senseless kill order at the same time fighting to save a man’s career in the public service?
Many, many undiscovered orphan cubs in B.C. are left to die as a result of the spring bear hunt, vehicle strikes, industrial development and nuisance mothers.
When we, as a community, learn about a few token cubs that can be rescued and taken to a privately funded, non-profit rehabilitation facility we expect that to happen without drama or spectacle. All we ask of the government is to let us bring a tiny bit of fairness to a tiny newborn bear in an increasingly unfair world.
Barbara Murray, B.C. Bear Advocate
Nanoose Bay
Read More »Letter PQ News: Port Hardy Cubs Need Some Fairness and So Does Officer Bryce Casavant
Read More »Let’s Talk Cougars (and Deer) in Nanoose Bay, B.C.
