B.C. man fined $2,000 for feeding Timbit to bear
Credit to Author: The Canadian Press| Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2019 21:48:49 +0000
VICTORIA — Feeding a Timbit and hotdogs to a bear has resulted in a $2,000 fine in B.C.
The province’s conservation officer service says the man was also ordered to keep a distance of at least 50 metres from bears for six months by a provincial court judge on Aug. 22. The service says in a tweet that the man, whose name wasn’t released, pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawfully feeding bears.
The man posted a photo on social media of himself feeding the Tim Hortons treat to the bear from a vehicle on the side of the Alaska Highway.
Shawn Brinsky, acting inspector for the conservation officer service in the Peace region, says charges were stayed by the Crown against a woman who faced the same allegations.
He says officers never found the young grizzly, but they’ve seen numerous examples where aggressive bears expect to be fed again, including a tourist who received a deep bite on her hand while taking a photo from her vehicle.
“We’ve had in the past a number of incidences where tourists, highway travellers and highway workers, where they’ve had some pretty risky and close encounters by bears,” he said Wednesday.
He said when bears gets conditioned to receive food from people driving along a highway, both the bears and those who feed them are in danger.
“It might come across cute, but it’s not just illegal, it’s dangerous for the public and extremely dangerous for the wildlife,” Brinsky said.
The B.C. Conservation Officer Service says it has laid charges after pictures were posted online, including this one, showing a bear being fed Timbits along the Alaska Highway in B.C.
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