EDITORIAL — CO who rescued bear cubs should be reinstated

EDITORIAL — Maybe Environment Minister Mary Pollack is hoping the case of conservation officer Bryce Casavant will go away. It’s wishful thinking.

Casavant is the CO currently on suspension with pay for refusing to kill a pair of orphaned black bear cubs whose mother was destroyed for raiding a Port Hardy freezer filled with meat and salmon.

The location of the freezer is fuzzy but it was likely outside or in a shed, a common practice in some places. Why somebody would leave a freezer full of meat accessible to a bear that had already broken into it at least once is a good question, one we won’t attempt to answer here.

Casavant, instead of shooting the cubs as directed by a superior, took them to a rescue shelter because he believed they hadn’t become garbage bears like their mother and could be released back into the wild. At first, he was suspended without pay. Then, his pay was reinstated but he’s still suspended.

So far, the government has refused to put him back on the job despite the situation receiving worldwide attention due in large part to some tweeting by British comedian Ricky Gervais, who likes to weigh in on animal issues.

The controversy won’t go away. Yesterday, several media received copies of what purport to be emails between Casavant and his supervisor, in which the latter removes Casavant from the file and orders him to turn over the cubs to another CO for termination. Casavant declines.

There’s little question that public opinion is heavily on Casavant’s side. The ministry is, no doubt, concerned about precedent. Won’t other COs think they can ignore orders if Casavant is forgiven?

Get over it. Other COs, having observed the wringer Casavant is being put through, are highly unlikely to run around being insubordinate. Casavant took a principled stand. He should be reward for that, not punished.