Media Release
DATE: August 7, 2007
CONTACT: Barbara Murray, Bear Matters BC
EMAIL:murrlaw@shaw.ca website: www.bearmatters.com
(More Photos on request)
MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT SAYS ORPHAN CUBS WILL GET A SECOND CHANCE!
North Vancouver – “This welcomed recent announcement by Lance Sunquist, Senior Conservation Officer of the Southern Region, is good news for BC’s orphan bear cubs, but only if shelters receive more funding to transport, shelter, feed and medicate these cubs, says Barbara Murray of Bear Matters BC. If shelters don’t receive badly needed donations to take in extra cubs then some cubs may be euthanized.
Mr. Sunquist has stated that any bear cub of the year, found on its’ own or orphaned as a result of human interference will be taken by Conservation Officers to a rehabilitation centre for assessment, rehabbed over winter and released back into the wild. Murray notes that “many orphan cubs are found as a result of the legal bear hunt, illegal poaching, vehicle accidents and the killing of nuisance mother bears”.
This announcement follows recent reports of twelve cub killings by government authorities since December 2006, including the high profile killing of “Beari” last month in Whistler, a treasured seven month old cub whose mother was killed for nuisance behaviour.
B.C.’s four rehabilitation centres are government licensed but not government funded therefore Murray urges B.C. residents to send donations to a bear rehabilitation centre of their choice in light of this new “no kill” government interim policy for orphan ‘cubs of the year so that no found orphan has to die.
Bear Rehabilitation Contacts:
Critter Care Wildlife Society
481 – 216st Street, Langley V2Z 1R5
Gail Martin
604-530-2064 or 604-530-2054
www.crittercarewildlife.org
North Island Wildlife Recovery Assoc
1240 Leffler Rd.,
Box 364, Errington, BC V0R 1V0
Robin and Sylvia Campbell
250-248-8534
www.niwra.org Attached Photo from North Island, pls credit
The Northern Lights Wildlife Shelter
17366 Telkwa High Road
Smithers, BC V03 2N7
Angelika and Peter Langen
250-847-5101
www.wildlifeshelter.com
Hillspring Wildlife Rehabilitation Facility
(donations gratefully accepted but no tax receipts issued)
Box 372,
Dawson Creek, BC V1G 4H3
Leona Green
250-847-5101
www.cowboyheadquarters.com/leonagreen