One wildlife conservation officer from Port Hardy, British Columbia, has made headlines after refusing to kill two bear cubs.
The baby cubs – a brother and sister pairing – saw their mother shot dead as she was trying to raid a fridge full of salmon, and while the conservation officer was told to destroy them, he refused and took them to a nearby veterinary hospital to save them instead.
Most people would probably see this as heroic, but Bryce Casavant was suspended without pay.
Once news of this spread, a Change.org petition was quickly set up to try and get Casavant his job back.
The petition claimed:
Conservation Officer Bryce Casavant has been suspended without pay pending a performance investigation after he refused to put down two bear cubs this weekend.
On July 5, Casavant and members of the Port Hardy Fire Department literally pulled out all stops to rescue the babies who had come back to the property and were up a tree calling for their mother.
In case anyone was wondering, the bear cubs are now happy and healthy after being saved by the conservation officer, and according to the vet who treated them, could easily be reintroduced into the wild given they are not used to humans – even being afraid of them when initially captured.
