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Bears will not be shot: Minister of Environment; and the Bear Dude talks
by Mona Mattei on 31 Aug 2010
For 3,794 people who are linked into the ‘Help save the B.C. Black bears’ Facebook site, and Allen Piche, the man responsible for feeding them, word that the bears at Christina Lake are not facing imminent destruction will be a relief. Barry Penner, Minister of the Environment for B.C., said the suspects who were feeding the bears will need to ween them off their cushy lifestyle by winter.
Penner explained the conservation officers involved in the case have determined that the bears are a low risk to the public and that, with reduced feeding, the animals should be foraging naturally by next spring.
“The suspects have been directed to ween the bears off food by Nov. 15 at their own cost,” said Penner. “Once they (the bears) winter, they should return to their normal habits in the spring. The last thing anyone wants is to shoot these animals.”
Penner also said they expect the bears to enter hibernation within six weeks as the weather changes. The bears were discovered by authorities when RCMP officers entered the property to bust a grow op of marijuana that had over 1,000 plants. The Grand-Forks-based conservation office had previously ordered the owners of the property to stop feeding the bears over two years ago.
In a video released by Nicco deHaan on Vimeo (see video), Piche talks about how he developed his relationship with the bears and the plan for helping them return to their habitat. He explained there are inaccuracies in all the stories being promoted in the press, and thanked everyone who has supported the bears’ plight - public attention that made it possible to develop the plan with the Ministry to save the bears.
Piche said there are 24 bears that he and his ex-wife feed on their property in the Fife area of Christina Lake. They have been feeding the creatures for well over a decade. Piche said there have never been any problems with the bears that he knows about in all that time.
“It was not necessary to ‘domesticate’ the bears in the first place, in fact I don't think of anything I did as being a domestication of the bears," he said. "We feed birds and don't think of that as domestication. The same heart that feeds birds beats to see and know all wildlife. Of course, only certain people would try it with bears, but it's still the same beat.
“It was not necessary to ‘domesticate’ the bears in the first place, in fact I don't think of anything I did as being a domestication of the bears," he said. "We feed birds and don't think of that as domestication. The same heart that feeds birds beats to see and know all wildlife. Of course, only certain people would try it with bears, but it's still the same beat.
“Perhaps the belief that there is a "problem" is a bit shortsighted since the results of our work over this fall and winter has yet to be determined and should we have a positive result in the spring then there was no problem… I don't feel shortsighted, and in the end I hope I won't have been lacking in vision,” explained Piche in response to some criticism on the Vimeo site.
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Comments
Bears
I'm so glad the bears are not
There's a murderer loose in Warfield !!
I agree with you 100%. I am