The B.C. Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court ruling in favour of a conservation officer's decision to euthanize an orphaned black bear cub.
The ruling stems from a May 2016 event in which a woman, Tiana Jacskon, discovered the cub in a roadside ditch in Dawson Creek.
She contacted the RCMP who, in turn, contacted the Conservation Officer Service. Conservation officer Micah Kneller advised that he would have to put down the animal, which left Jackson upset.
While waiting for Kneller's arrival, she and some friends caught the cub and put it in a secure kennel while also attempting to find a place where the bear could be sent - and located a wildlife rehabilitation centre in Smithers that was prepared to accept the animal.
But when Kneller arrived, he examined the cub and found it was in poor condition and beyond rehabilitation and so, rejected the idea of having it transported to Smithers. He tranquilized the cub and took it away to be euthanized.
The next month, the Association for Protection of Fur-Bearing Animals filed a complaint with the COS arguing Kneller had abused his powers. With the sides unable to reach an informal resolution, the COS undertook an investigation and in January 2017, the COS's deputy chief dismissed the complaint.
Describing the deputy chief's interpretation of the Wildlife Act as a "manifest absurdity," the APFBA took the case to the COS chief who confirmed the dismissal in March 2017.
In July, the case was brought before a B.C. Supreme Court Justice. APFBA contended the section 79 of Wildlife Act limits conservation officers to kill animals that are "at large and likely to harm persons, property, wildlife or wildlife habitat."
In response, the COS pointed to section 86 of the Wildlife Act that says conservation officers have a broad discretion to destroy wildlife in the course of their duties.
In a decision reached June 8 and released this week, BCCA Justice Harvey Groberman said he is not persuaded section 79 is an "exhaustive enumeration of situations in which a conservation officer may kill an animal.
"By exempting officers from its offence provisions when they are acting in the performance of their duties, the statute provides them with a broad discretion to take actions that would ordinarily be unlawful," Groberman continued.
