The Editor,
Re. "Six bears were killed and it's humans' fault" (Letters, The Tri-City News, Dec. 12) and "A deadly weekend for bears in PoCo" (The Tri-City News, Dec. 5).
I agree absolutely with this letter. And it's time that the BC Conservation Officers (COs) stop their slaughter of innocent bruins. Also, it's way past time that the COs begin enforcing what rules there are.
I'm so tired of their crying that they "had no choice" when destroying these innocent creatures forced into, even for them, unpalatable situations — it's utter nonsense. I'm sick and tired of their excuses for their lack of direct action and their constant excuses for their taking the short and easy path.
And it's so sad that Port Coquitlam council stood right up and pointed fingers elsewhere. PoCo council is directly at fault for not taking needed actions to take preventive and corrective actions of its negligent citizenry. Absolutely no excuse.
The fines in PoCo (and, frankly, everywhere else, both locally and provincially) are way too low. The enforcement activities at every level from municipal to provincial governments are way too random, if ever they actually do try to do something at least at the token level.
I'm sure that the Coquitlam city council saw only big bucks when the city began the development of Burke Mountain. Although I haven't seen the environmental impact studies for the area, I'm willing to bet they didn't address the issues of the displacement of wildlife and the catastrophic impact on bears. And now, the bears pay the price for we humans. I hate it.
"Six bears were killed and it's humans' fault." Never was a truer headline written.
Michael Sonntag, Port Coquitlam
