The recent shooting deaths of two grizzly bears who spent the summer roaming the farm fields and forests of a rural valley, about 150 kilometers north of Vancouver, British Columbia, revealed ‘huge gaps’ in the province’s efforts to help bears and humans coexist. , say environmental defenders.

The two cubs, a male and a female, were orphaned in June after the disappearance of their mother, who was potentially killed. They spent most of the summer near their birthplace in Pemberton Meadows. The long mountain valley has long been territory for grizzly bears and provided a safe haven for cubs.

But by mid-October, they began moving across the valley, wandering toward Pemberton and the neighboring communities of Mount Currie and Lil’wat First Nation. A few days before Halloween, they killed free-range chickens. This set off alarm bells: conservationists warned that after discovering that foraging near humans could lead them to easy food, the cubs would become accustomed to humans, putting them both at risk unless that the government acts quickly to mark and move them.

A few days later, in early November, the cubs were killed on the Lil’wat First Nation reserve. In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the country, which worked with conservationists to protect the bears, said that “for reasons of personal safety, both bears were killed.” A ceremony and tobacco offering were held, and the bears were killed. been buried. »

(Erica Van Loon, director of communications for Coast-to-Coast Grizzly Bear Initiativepointed out that “it was just as likely” that the cubs could have been killed off-reserve – a response to a series of racist comments posted on local Facebook pages after the cubs’ deaths. “It was one person’s decision, not the community’s,” she said.)

The Pemberton area is located at the intersection of four grizzly bear populations. Two of these groups are considered critically endangered, while a third is listed as being of “high conservation concern” by the province. Although B.C.’s ban on grizzly bear hunting and efforts to protect key habitats are helping populations recover, critics want the province to do more to help bears and humans coexist peacefully.

“We don’t have a recovery plan, so we expect these people to live with this large carnivore and not be afraid of it – that’s not very rational,” said Lana Ciarniello, a biologist bear independent who leads a project with the environmental group Coast to Cascade Grizzly Bear Initiative.

Without a recovery plan, Ciarniello expects the problem will only get worse as bear populations and scattered human communities within their ranges continue to grow, increasing the chances of problematic encounters. Bears and humans can live safely in close proximity, provided the right measures are taken, she added.

But to achieve that coexistence, the province needs to step up its enforcement efforts to ensure people don’t lure bears into their homes with trash or other attractants. It also requires creating a dedicated team of bear experts who can respond quickly to keep curious or hungry bears away from humans, she said.

“There are no urgent protocols in place for situations like this,” said Sonia Nicholl, an expert in bear-human conflict management who worked with Ciarnello to try to protect the two grizzly bears and rescue them. keep out of human territory. “These were managed bears. They did not represent, in our eyes, a threat to public safety. These were bears that needed to be managed by the entity that manages endangered species.”

Nicholl believes the cubs’ disappearance probably could have been avoided if the provincial Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship and the Ministry of Environment, which are jointly responsible for bear conservation, had issued a collar emergency and a live trap so the party can move them. .

The group usually tries to avoid relocation, which may simply result in those who have been displaced being replaced by another bear, less accustomed to humans, but in this case the group found it necessary to prevent the situation from escalating . Ensuring the safety of the female was especially important, she said, because grizzly bear populations in the area are highly endangered, she said.

As the situation worsened, she said the group warned officials that the cubs “could be dead in three days” at a weekend meeting, but was not given the necessary equipment to move them. The following Monday, the cubs were killed.

“The response we got was that they didn’t realize it was that urgent,” she said.

In an emailed statement, a Department of Environment spokesperson said that “the issue of human-wildlife conflict is complex and cannot be resolved by the Conservation Officer Service ( COS) alone. Across British Columbia, the COS takes extensive measures to minimize the risks that wildlife conflicts pose to public safety and property. »

In September, the province announcement that he will begin working with the Grizzly Bear Foundation to reduce human-bear conflicts. Through this program, the province will “work with First Nations Guardians, independent scientists, and animal welfare and conservation experts, to develop recommendations that can improve all aspects of human-human conflict.” wildlife”.

Other jurisdictions where grizzly bears and humans coexist, such as Alberta and Montana, have created or successfully supported programs that help the two coexist in real time. British Columbia needs similar programs, Nichols and Ciarniello said.

“We’re coming across this badly,” Ciarniello said. “Killing something just to get rid of it – that can’t be the way we manage grizzly bears, and it’s certainly not the way they’re going to be recovered.”