The saga of two bear cubs orphaned on Vancouver Island continues to grow by leaps and bounds.
The future of their lives is being debated, a conservation officer’s employment is in doubt, petitions are being signed, officials are stonewalling, and an internationally-famous comedian has weighed in on the matter.
The story begins last weekend when the cubs’ mother was deemed a threat to humans for repeatedly raiding a freezer full of meat and salmon near the town of Fort Hardy.
She was shot dead
Dispatched to investigate, B.C. conservation officer Bryce Casavant was ordered to kill her two cubs.
He refused. Taking them to a local rehab centre instead.
The B.C. Conservation Officer Service immediately suspended Casavant without pay.
A public outcry and a petition with 12,000 signatures quickly followed.
Enter British comedian and noted animal rights activist Ricky Gervais.
Gervais promptly alerted his nine million Twitter followers about the case. He, too, demanded that Casavant be reinstated.
The 12,000 names on the petition jumped to 50,000.
On Wednesday, Casavant’s pay was reinstated. He was not.
With the controversy starting to spiral out of control, the B.C. Conservation Officer Service sent Inspector Chris Doyle out to meet the press.
He could not discuss personnel issues, Doyle said.
However, he did not dispute reports that Casavant was suspended for refusing an order to destroy the cubs.
Doyle said the service prefers to the bears alive and wild and to prevent conflicts from happening in the first place.
Doyle said the cubs’ future remains unclear because when wild animals — even very young ones — get close to humans they become habituated.
The cubs, now named Athena and Jordan, remain at the North Island Wildlife Recovery Association awaiting their fate.
That could involve rehabilitation, release or euthanasia.
Stay tuned.
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