Wildlife Officer Suspended Without Pay For Saving Two Bear Cubs

A wildlife officer has been suspended from his job with the Canadian Ministry of Environment for refusing to kill a pair of orphaned bear cubs.

On July 5, Bryce Casavant, a conservation officer in Port Hardy, British Columbia, was informed that two orphaned black bears had been spotted within a tree. Officials had known that the cubs were orphans, as just ten day prior, wildlife officials had killed a female black bear at the same location the cub were found. The mother black bear had been killed for repeatedly rooted through an indoor meat freezer filled with salmon; unfortunately, it appeared that the bears were about to meet a similar end.

However, despite his official orders to euthanize the bears, Casavant captured the 25-pound cubs and took them to a veterinary hospital. In video footage from the scene, Casavant is seen humanely  capturing the cubs with the assistance of the Port Hardy Fire Department. Shortly after, Casavant was suspended from his position for disobeying orders.

The Canadian Ministry of Environment action’s have since attracted the attention of both activists and Anonymous. In emails allegedly obtained and released by the hacker group, Casavant was told that the two 8-week-old cubs had been “garbage habituated ” (feeding on human food had made them dependent on a non-natural food source) therefore they could not survive in the wild. Because of this, Casavant was ordered to euthanize the two bear cubs.

Casavant refused to follow these orders and took the two bears, a brother and sister, to the local veterinary hospital to be checked. The hospital manager, Robin Campbell, concluded that after some rehabilitation the two cubs could safely be reintroduced to the wild. The bears are currently at the North Island Wildlife Recovery Association, a Canadian sanctuary where orphaned bears are rehabilitated and released into the wild.

For his actions, Casavant was suspended from his position without pay. In a response email obtained by Anonymous, Casavant wrote :

“My primary mandate is to public safety, and the immediate threat [the mother bear] has been removed. My duties as a law enforcement officer do not include the needless destruction of a baby animal that can be rehabilitated.”

In addition to the hacker groups support, activists have launched a petition calling for Casavant’s reinstatement. Support for the petition rocketed when comedian and animal advocate Ricky Gervais tweeted about the petition on July 7. Currently, the petition has collected 258,742 signatures.

Bryce Casavant, conservation officer, suspended for refusing to kill bear cubs http://t.co/E6AKvu6Kyd Reinstate this honourable man.

— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) July 8, 2015

The Ministry of Environment has since reinstated Casavant’s pay, however, he will remain suspended from his position while the incident is being investigated by authorities. Unfortunately, at this moment in time, the fate of the happy and healthy bear cubs still remains uncertain.

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