Conservation officer James Kelly loves his job but he wrestles with its public image.
On his wall at work are cartoons depicting conservation officers as animal killers rather than protectors. He gets the joke but the barbs sting.
Kelly's job is to protect B.C. wildlife by policing the forests to ensure animals aren't killed illegally and policing neighbourhoods to make sure people aren't careless with bear attractants.
By managing human behaviour, he's protecting animals, he says, but when human lives are at risk, he must manage the animals. Sometimes this means killing them, and this is the part of the job he doesn't much care for.
"No one wants to have to kill an animal," Kelly says. In fact, he admits it's frustrating to have to destroy a bear because it has become used to eating human food - something that could have been avoided if people took more care.
"Even after one season, it's kind of depressing," he said. "Yes, the message is out there, but people don't seem to hear it."
He remembers every bear he has had to kill this year down to the last second - memories he doesn't relish but has to live with. But optimistic by nature, Kelly believes that at least in the Tri-Cities, people are starting to understand that a fed bear is a dead bear.
Hopefully, he said, the message will stick and the bruins will have no reason to hang around.
