Canadian conservation officer, Bryce Casavant, was suspended in spring of 2015. He was then fired for refusing to kill two black bear cubs – ordered by the British Columbia Wildlife Conservation Officer Service.
The Incident
A mobile homeowner south of the British Columbia (BC) town of Port Hardy reported a female black bear. It was trying to find food in a freezer that contained meat and salmon. Casavant was dispatched and, under the province’s animal policy, had to shoot this mother bear. The policy states that a bear that is reliant on human food must be killed. But, he decided not to harm the two cubs as the residents reported that the cubs were not seen eating food or garbage.
According to the court documents, “Instead of complying with the kill order, he took the cubs to a veterinarian who assessed them and transferred them to the North Island Recovery Centre.”
The centre’s manager, Robin Campbell, said that Casavant did the right thing. Adding that the cubs are not habituated to humans and can be transferred back into the wild. Campbell noted that the mother bear was a problem, “But these cubs did nothing.”
As a result of this, Casavant was suspended for his actions. He has spent years fighting against his termination in many provincial courts.
The Canadian conservation officer in BC
Bryce Casavant previously served in Afghanistan in the Canadian military. After his honourable release from service, he worked as a consultant for the environment. Later, he entered public service as a Conservation Officer in British Columbia. In 2015, standing for wildlife conservation in BC, he respectfully declined to kill the two bear cubs. In 2016, the bear cubs were successfully reintroduced into the wild.
This issue had caught the international media’s eye. Popular British comedian, writer and actor, Ricky Gervais, tweeted in support of Casavant.
His suspension was reported in a community paper. It requested the Environment Minister, Mary Polak, to reinstate the officer.
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Favourable Judgment and Legal Battle
Finally, this year, the BC court of appeals passed judgment in his favor. Casavant said, “I kept fighting so that I could clear my name. I’ve long stood for public service, honour and integrity. It’s how I was raised and how I’ve raised my daughter. I really feel that I was targeted.”
The legal battle for him was very costly. Moreover, the judgment does not give him his position back as a conservation officer. But, it does prove that he was not in the wrong (based on all the evidence).
Speaking to The Guardian, Casavant said “I feel like the black clouds that have hung over my family for years are finally starting to part. But the moment is bittersweet – my firing should have never happened in the first place.”
Bears that rummage through human trash in search for food are being killed by Canadian conservation officers on orders. The planned killings of bears by British Columbia Wildlife Conservation Officer Service has been unpopular. Tensions between the government and communities in British Columbia are rising.
Casavant has been working with a conservation NGO, Pacific Wild, to write a report. They found that more than 4,500 bears had been killed by conservation officers in the province over the last eight years. Of these, 4,341 were black bears.
He writes: “[British Columbia] isn’t a shooting gallery for government employees. It’s unreasonable to believe that, including juvenile bear cubs, over 4,000 black bears were killed ‘as a last resort’.”
Learn more about Bryce Casavant on his website –
