THE GROW-OP BEARS: 'SOMEBODY REALLY MESSED UP BY FEEDING THEM'

As hibernation time approaches, expert fears for the animals'
future

Dog food won't kill the black bears found at a Christina Lake
pot-growing operation, but the animals' dependence on effortless meals
probably will.

Although the bears likely enjoy the high-protein dog food, and it
isn't necessarily bad for them, bears in that area should be eating
huckleberries at this time of year, said Bruce McLellan, a wildlife
research ecologist for the B.C. Ministry of Forests.

"When people start feeding them, they eventually stop," said McLellan.
"[Then] the bears don't know how to eke out a living on their own."

When police found the 1,000-plant pot-growing operation at the
Christina Lake property last month, they discovered that the couple
living on the property had been feeding dog food to 24, seemingly
docile, black bears. Charges have not yet been laid in the raid.

If you don't believe someone would dare get close enough to feed these
bears, watch the video of Allen Piche, the self-proclaimed "bear dude"
who lives on the property where the police found the animals.

Piche says in the video that he has been feeding these bears for the
past 10 years.

Feeding bears usually ends in the animals' destruction, even if they
are still capable of finding their own food, McLellan said.

"There's a bumper sticker out there that says, 'A fed bear is a dead
bear,' and that's pretty true," he added.

"These bears have made this association that people mean food," he
said. Even though the 24 black bears are mellow because of their
steady dog-food supply, McLellan said they are still unpredictable,
wild animals.

"When they get hungry, they become increasingly dangerous," he
said.

As an alternative to killing the nonthreatening bears, the Ministry of
the Environment has ordered Piche to continue feeding them until they
hibernate.

But McLellan said the bears might not hibernate at all because of the
excess food they've been eating.

"If you keep feeding them tons of food, they'll keep eating," he said.
During years where grizzly bears have a large food supply, McLellan
said they can remain active until Christmas time. He also noted that
bears kept at zoos often don't hibernate.

Even if the bears are weaned off the dog food, they will almost
certainly go back to the property to look for food next spring,
McLellan added.

"They've got excellent spatial memory," he said. "I'd be very
surprised if they don't go back."

He recalled the story of the bears at Yellowstone National Park in
Montana who were fed at the dumps in the 1970s.

"The grizzlies kept going to the dump site for 20 years after they
stopped feeding them," he said. "They're pretty darn smart."

McLellan is not optimistic about the future for these 24 black
bears.

"Somebody really messed up by feeding them," he said.

However, with 300,000 to 400,000 black bears in Canada, McLellan said
he is disappointed that people worry about 20 or 30 of them instead of
directing their emotions to endangered bears around the world.

"We have piles of black bears, so from a conservation point, it's not
an issue," he said. "There are species actually disappearing in places
such as Cambodia and South America."