Home ›

OP/ED: Bears as guard dogs for pot ... it really IS a world gone mad

by Kyra Hoggan on 18 Aug 2010
in
OP/ED: Bears as guard dogs for pot ... it really IS a world gone mad

 Marijuana and bears and raccoons, oh my!

Only in the Kootenays.
 
I see the humour in the story – who wouldn't, when a cop watches a massive bear crawl onto his squad car and refers to it as a “big Kootenay hood ornament”? (Although I feel compelled to point out my heroic restraint in refraining from making any pig/cop jokes when the 50-pound pot-belly entered the equation).
 
Underneath the snappy jibes, though, is a deadly serious issue – and one some local elected representatives seem willing, perhaps even anxious, to sweep under the rug. I won't name or vilify the representatives in question, but I ask them - and you - to consider this:
 
I laughed as hard as anyone at the bizarre story ... but it was more luck than good management that this story didn't end with a couple of our officers mauled or dead – five men were trying to work around 14 or more semi-tame bears, which are huge animals with sharp teeth and long claws, and which are known to be both territorial and unpredictable.
 
We're supremely lucky none of those officers ended up in a hospital or morgue.
 
How funny would it all be then?
 
That they handled the situation with courage and decency is a credit to them – but I don't think they should ever have had to face it in the first place. Public servants don't get paid enough to square off with armies of wild animals ...and I never, ever want to have to attend the funerals of those who do.
 
And that's just the opening salvo in describing the staggering danger these people introduced to our region.
 
How could they possibly have prevented the bears they taught to approach humans – that they knowingly, willingly habituated – how could they possibly ensure those bears wouldn't make their way to other farms and homes (my understanding is that, in fact, the bears have done just that in the past – it has apparently been a long-standing concern in the area).
 
Once again, it was luck, not good management, that prevented a story about local pets being eaten – or worse yet, local residents being attacked.
 
And now?
 
Well, there's certainly a significant risk that up to 14 innocent beasts will be destroyed due to the gross irresponsibility of just a couple of residents. I don't care how you spin that, it's just wrong. Hideously, egregiously wrong.
 
And when these fierce, wild animals find their food supply cut off, I would suggest surrounding neighbours keep their pets and kids indoors until it can be determined which, if any, of the bears will seek a similar food supply from what is probably the best source the bears now know – people.
 
So we're not out of the woods (as it were) when it comes to the dangers of this situation – not by a long stretch.
 
And I haven't even touched on the illegal drug aspect of the issue yet.
 
To anyone arguing this has anything to do with medical marijuana or production for personal use, I say this: “Sit down and shut up, would you please, so serious people can step up to the mike?”
 
A million dollars of pot is NOT about medicinal use, and it's NOT about personal use – it's a big-money criminal enterprise, plain and simple. Anyone who says otherwise is not only blowing smoke – they're probably inhaling far too much of same, as well.
 
(I could, but won't, discuss the corresponding wild-animal danger presented by that, as this volume of illicit drug is often distributed by wild animals masquerading as people).
 
Same goes for anyone who calls these people “animal lovers”. Animal lovers don't lure unsuspecting animals into situations that may well get them destroyed, so let's nip that nonsense in the bud right now (no pun intended), shall we?
 
To use bears to guard that million-dollar criminal enterprise – I don't know if that violates any criminal laws, but I know it violates all laws of human decency and plain old good sense.
 
Someone tried to tell me the bears were a separate issue from the marijuana. Perhaps that's true ... and I really don't give a damn. Just like I wouldn't care if a cocaine dealer tried to claim he owned a gun for reasons incidental to his criminal operations.
 
So what?
 
Common sense says the two are related, and the people involved lost a lot of the benefit of the doubt they would otherwise be accorded ... they lost it the moment roughly $1 million of pot plants were seized from the same property on which the bears were being fed.
 
I don't care if the situation came more from happenstance than calculation – the result was the same.
 
More than a dozen bears serving as deterrent to anyone going anywhere near $1 million of pot. That's the result, and it's really the only salient information, if you ask me.
 
Which brings me to my point.
 
If it had been guns, the owners would be charged. If it had been explosives, the owners could be charged. But because it was bears – far more offensive, to my mind, because you can't aim a bear and trust it go where you point, not to mention the animal cruelty element – it's funny, and we call for sympathy.
 
Has everyone gone completely NUTS?
 
I think police should be able to charge these people with several hundred counts of brandishing a deadly weapon (in this case, bears instead of guns). This behaviour threatened the safety of hundreds of area residents ...and that's if you don't count the thousands of motorists who pass through the region each summer.
 
You can be charged with uttering threats ... why not with creating them?
 
But I doubt we'll see that, and I doubt we'll see laws enacted that allow for that – until, that is, someone does get killed in a situation like this. God forbid, some small, unsuspecting child should frighten a scared and hungry bear, and die as a result. It's hardly out of the realm of possibility.
 
Then we'll weep and wail, pretending we couldn't see it coming, and try to forget how hard we laughed when we heard the bears were guarding the grow op.

 

Comments

Human fed bears are dead bears. What a stupid stupid statement.

by SpectateSwamp on 21 Aug 2010 at about 10:01.
Many years ago I worked on a forestry bridge crew. The camp cook made 6 or 8 pies a day. There were only 4 of us on the crew. He would put all the extra food in 5 gal buckets to feed his bears. One day his favorite old black bear got in a big fight with a 4 or 5 year old Grizzly. Old Irish waded into the battle with a broom to break it up. Irish got a couple broken ribs from his fav bear. Now if the FishCops had a guy like Irish working for them, he would build a trail of pies deeper and deeper into the bush to save those bears. But not so with the highly educated game wardens of today; their answer is to shoot them. Anything that takes away from their budget for jetboats atv's and the latest fancy truck is dealt with that way. A similar story (from 5 or 6 years back) was the killing of 8 or 10 Moose (some with calfs) that wandered into town during a winter with more than usual snow. A couple cowboys with ropes and a large pen with a few bails would have saved those animals but NO a bullet is better and the FishCops know "best". That year a bullet ended up in a balcony after it passed through or missed the moose. They then started shooting them with marbles until they got the poor animal in a less public place to kill them. Most of these university trained biology students are afraid of wildlife. These guys and gals are chicken shit, scared what ever you want to call them. Protectors of wildlife they are not. This issue is bound to be made in to a reality show. So beware FC's you will be demonized if you kill all these animals. Maybe get a couple of those bear dogs to put the run on them if you can't find a pie man to lead them away to safety. Wildlife officials don't care about the wildlife if their answers are always Shoot Shoot. My trapper friends would do a better job. They released cougar and wolf from their snares by putting a blanket over them then slipping their hand under to cut the cord with snips. These guys are brave. The cougar was a protected species and the wolf had hair rubbed off its back and was worthless. Boo FishCops boo.

From the editor: Hate rarely helps

by Kyra Hoggan on 22 Aug 2010 at about 12:41.
I don't know where you're from, or the conservation officers (COs) in your area, but I know the ones here, and they are good people who care.
They don't have a ton of expensive equipment, and they don't wantonly shoot animals.
They're doing a difficult job with too few resources in an area where people insist on creating most of the problem by luring animals with dog food, garbage, etc ...sometimes through misguided good intentions, but more often than not because they're selfish and don't give a damn.
I believe education and empathy for the animals provide most of the solution, but maybe I'm wrong, I don't know.
What I do know is that hate-filled, rage-spewing diatribes won't solve anything.
Respectfully,
Kyra Hoggan
Editor

 

Under the influence?

by David Livingstone on 19 Aug 2010 at about 09:27.

The whole situation is so utterly absurd.

To what extent can their Dr. Doolittle fantasy be attributed to a delerious delusion the result of an impaired judgment?

Bears as guard dogs

by penandpaddle on 19 Aug 2010 at about 08:56.
Ah, Kyra...your style of writing is a brilliant light in a wilderness! 'Wild animals masquerading as people'...just can't beat that. Everything you say is pertinent and valid. Keep up the good work of stating your position on events firmly and unwaveringly.

Great Read

by Bosco on 19 Aug 2010 at about 05:50.
Awesome write up Krya couldn't have said it better myself great and valid points. Its sad to see such a nice place like Christina Lake thrown into the spotlight like this. :( Poor animals hopefully they will face charges from Conservation on top of the criminal charges.

This whole thing is so

by Allyson Kenning on 18 Aug 2010 at about 18:28.
This whole thing is so disgusting...I think they should drop those people off in a grizzly-rich area and leave them for bear food. Seriously.

Bears as guard dogs for pot

by zazzoo on 18 Aug 2010 at about 17:16.
I feel sorry for the bears. They were just doing what comes naturally, finding an easy food source. Now they will probably end up paying with their lives because of some stupid human. This makes me sick. The people who did this should be locked up in a pen with the bears !! See how funny anyone would think that is.