The plight of the bear in Coquitlam shows that people care about black bears

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In North Vancouver, there is an animal welfare organization called The Fur-Bearers that prides itself on being a thorn in the side of the BC Conservation Officer Service.

That makes sense. After all, black bears have fur, and conservation officials kill a lot of black bears every year. Too many, say fur conservationists.

As evidence, they cite figures from a recent Freedom of Information Act request that showed that between 2016 and 2022, the number of bears killed by conservation officials exceeded the numbers reported to the public. The discrepancies range from seven bears in 2016 to 265 in 2019.

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When the group asked the service for information on where in the province conservation officials killed 603 bears last year, it could only identify the locations of 247 of them. Where the remaining 356 were killed remains a secret.

When asked to explain these gaps and discrepancies, the service pointed to computer problems. Specifically: “duplication errors and problems related to the transition to a new internal tracking system.” That may be so, but these errors certainly do not go back to 2016. Nor do they explain the lack of information on 356 missing bears.

The reason fur-bearers are concerned about these discrepancies is obvious. There is clearly something wrong with a government agency that cannot provide reliable statistics on where and how many black bears it kills each year.

But there is a second reason. Today, people care about black bears. That was not the case when the service was founded 119 years ago.

In 2024, issues of ecology, conservation and animal rights are part of the public discourse, including – and perhaps most prominently – the welfare of black bears in British Columbia. Today, when a bear is killed, the BCCOS must justify the killing. The reason typically given is that the bear was considered a “nuisance” or “problem,” meaning it posed a potential danger to people in a particular area or community.

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This month, the fate of one such bear in Port Coquitlam received a lot of media attention. The RCMP and BCCOS said the injured bear was surrounded by a large crowd of people on August 14, some of whom fed the bear watermelons. It was later reported that local residents fed the bear for three days.

The story poses an interesting dilemma. On the one hand, it was clearly wrong of the local residents to feed the bear, as feeding has accustomed the wild animals to urban areas. On the other hand, their behavior demonstrated their genuine compassion for the bear, especially because it was injured. They certainly did not want anything to happen to the bear, even if their behavior resulted in its death.

So what do we do? The answer still lies in prevention. Yes, people have been told time and time again not to attract bears to their communities, but when a bear does show up, their reaction is usually not fear, but joy. That’s why it’s so important for the Conservation Service to build trust in these communities. Keeping accurate data on where and why bears are killed would be an obvious start.

It’s a question of attitude, really. For conservation agencies to be effective, they need to show that they really care about bears and other wildlife. And they haven’t done that. Neither this government nor any other has done that.

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It is true that what governments do is more important than what they say. But what they say is also important. And when it comes to animal protection, the authorities have always been reticent. That is why British Columbia still has no legislation to protect endangered species.

What happened in Port Coquitlam proves that it matters to many voters in 2024. That’s why groups like The Fur-Bearers exist. Attitudes have changed. The writing is on the wall. If only someone in government would read them.

Nicholas Read is the author of a dozen books about animals and the environment and a former reporter for the Vancouver Sun.

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