Conservation officers have laid charges against a Cranberry resident for the shooting of two bear cubs on his property on Saturday, May 7.
The 32-year-old man, whose name officers are not releasing due to freedom of information laws, is being charged under the Wildlife Act for discharging a firearm in a no-shooting area and killing wildlife outside of the open season. The charges are being laid by way of a provincial violation ticket that amounts to $345 per charge for a total of $690. The accused now has 30 days to either dispute the allegations or fine amount or plead guilty.
The charges stem from an incident where the man shot and killed two bear cubs in a chicken coop on his property. RCMP responded to a report of gunshots shortly after midnight but, after an investigation, did not press any charges and passed the matter along to conservation officers.
Conservation Officer Gerry Lister said officers had to kill the mother bear after she would not leave the area and posed a public safety concern because of maternal instinct and unpredictable behaviour. Lister said the mother bear turned out to be fairly old and most likely past her reproductive years.
“We didn’t know that in advance, but that’s sort of cold comfort I guess,” said Lister.
Lister said the bears were killed with a shotgun loaded with slugs, or single projectiles. He did not want to get into the specifics of the chicken coop but did say that it was built out of “substandard materials.”
Discharging a firearm within 100 metres of a dwelling is prohibited by the Wildlife Act, as is discharging a firearm in a residential area. Also, bears are a regulated species and it is prohibited to hunt or kill bears under two years old in most circumstances. In terms of the protection of property, Lister said that a range of options are available, not merely destroying an animal.
“Killing regulated species, particularly bears, for the protection of property is not a socially accepted practice this day and age,” wrote Lister in an email. “Regardless of public opinion, in most cases killing the animal only temporarily eliminates the problem, as the conflict that is occurring is only a symptom of an underlying cause.”
Having a yard free of attractants for bears is the first step to protecting your property, said Lister. Eliminating open garbage, birdseed and livestock feed is one step, along with keeping livestock in sturdy enclosures made of high-quality materials and protected by an electric fence, where permitted.
Conservation officers will only get involved in a situation if the property owner has taken the steps to discourage the bear from entering the yard, through prevention or by using techniques to scare the bear away. Lister wrote also that relocation of bears is not a viable solution either, as most will return to known food sources. The only reason for killing a bear on your property, said Lister, is to protect human life or to stop serious property damage. In such a case the killing must legally be immediately reported to a conservation officer.
For more information on limiting bear-human interaction, readers can visit the provincial Bear Aware program website. To report a wildlife conflict readers can call 1.877.952.7277.
