A former local pastor is under fire after he posted several videos of his dog chasing black bears out of what appears to be someone's yard.
Dave Jonsson, who work as a pastor at Riverside Community Church in Port Coquitlam until two months ago, recently posted videos of at least two encounters pitting his small, white pooch against a large black bear.
In one video posted to YouTube and appearing on Global TV, the dog is seen chasing the bear along the edge of a lawn, and in an effort to escape, it performs what can only be described as a baseball slide into the nearby bushes.
“It is troubling that as a potential role model at the Riverside Community Church and Pacific Academy, this behaviour is being encouraged and supported on social media,” said local resident Michelle Joyce in an email, adding that TV coverage of the incident appeared to paint it as a humorous encounter with “zero mention of education or how to behave with your dog around a bear or coexist.”
“[It] exemplifies the fact that education needs to be done on how to coexist with wildlife.”
But Jonsson told the Tri-City News that because of the way he edited the video, viewers could not hear his wife banging pots and pans in an attempt to scare away the bear and call back the dog. The former pastor added that while it was his wife's friend who shot the video on the family's farmland, he did edit the 'Tootsie Slide" ending, "which, in retrospect, while funny, was unwise."
The Coquitlam city staff said they have been in contact with the BC Conservation Officer Service regarding the video and would be following up with Jonsson; however, in an email to the Tri-City News, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment said the BC Conservation Officer Service was not conducting an investigation into the video and would not be commenting.
Coquitlam’s Environment and Legal & Bylaw Enforcement divisions is now looking to educate the public on “the importance of keeping pets leashed around urban wildlife in the community as well as not approaching bears with cellphones for videos and photos,” according to Aaron Hilgerdenaar, manager of Bylaw Enforcement & Animal Services.
Certain species of dogs have been used to scare bears out of urban environments. But that has been done under the training and guidance of professional wildlife officers, and this is not the first time a dog chasing a bear has provoked a public outcry.
Exactly a month ago, conservation officers warned the public to give bears space after a crowd of people gathered to photograph an animal near Gates Park in Port Coquitlam.
Eventually, the bear was harassed out of the tree by a man with a dog and, in a bid to escape, the bruin ran into traffic on Wilson Avenue and cornered itself on condo property between a planter and a concrete wall.
“It was a terrible situation and a terrible example for the neighbourhood,” said Laura Christine, who witnessed the incident and called police and conservation officers.
The man called her a “Karen,” referring to a meme about a complaining, entitled white woman, and proceeded to use his dog to chase the bear, she told the Tri-City News, adding that it angers and frustrates her when people leave attractants out that lure the bears into neighbourhoods then harass them by photographing and chasing them.
At the time, conservation officer Austin Lord said people shouldn’t crowd bears, especially in an urban environment where any number of things could go wrong.
“It’s best to let them calm down and leave on their own,” said Lord.
-With files from Gary McKenna and Diane Strandberg
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story indicated Mr. Jonsson was a pastor at Riverside Community Church in Port Coquitlam. He no longer holds this position. Further, after initally turning down a request to comment, Mr. Jonsson spoke with the Tri-City News on Oct. 13. Those comments are reflected here.
