A petition launched in response to the and killing of several bears in the Tri-Cities has garnered over calling for reform and introducing oversight to the BC Conservation Officer Service.
By the morning of March 12, that put it within under one thousand signees of its 35,000-signature target listed on the website change.org.
Started in January by the Metro 麻豆传媒映画activist group Stop Animal Brutality, it is addressed to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change George Heyman; Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources Doug Donaldson; assistant deputy minister of environment and climate change Jim Standen; and chief conservation officer Doug Forsdick.
In a five-point set of demands, the group urges:
- BC Conservation Officer Service (BCCOS) further prioritize preventive measures and education over the killing of bears;
- BCCOS be placed under independent oversight;
- municipalities receive more funding to ramp up bylaw enforcement related to wildlife feeding and ;
- BCCOS hand out fines and press charges in relation to wildlife attractants;
- and all BCCOS members receive training in “animal sentience and behaviour to better understand the animals they work with.”
In 2019, by the conservation officers in the Tri-Cities, a significant hike from the previous year.
Several groups — from to and — have called for an overhaul of the way the BC Conservation Officer Service operates. In one case, it even sparked one Coquitlam resident to launch an effort to have BCCOS use .
For its part, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change — which oversees the BCCOS — as well as several of the service’s officers have repeatedly told The Tri-City news that much of their work is . Killing bears, they contend, is a last resort and represents small percentage of their activities.
It’s residents, they say, who need to take the issue more seriously and that attracts bruins to their neighbourhoods.
Read more from the
