The Editor,
Re. “Bear shot, five fined in SW Coq.” (The Tri-City News, Aug. 23).
We take their land/home — and their food sources — and when they are doing what every living creature instinctively knows and needs to do — survive, by eating — we kill them.
Worse, we tempt them with our food and when they come, we kill them.
With regard to your latest article, the city should not be giving the perpetrators a discount for early payment of fines, and it is more than half of the full amount (discounted $240 versus full $500).
This defeats the goal of a fine and diminishes respect for the law. By paying the discounted amount, the negative consequence is the discounting or minimization of the intended effect of the fine. Psychologically, there is a big difference between feeling the “pinch” of $240 and feeling the “pain” of $500. With just feeling the “pinch,” there is a higher likelihood of repeat offences. It is bad enough that even with a $500 fine, many people don’t even take this matter seriously enough.
It is my opinion that fines should be $1,000 at least (or maybe $2,000 — this would really get people’s attention) so that people will adhere to the law and save the lives of bears.
To date, 117 or more bears have been killed in the local area alone; many have been killed because of the ignorance, carelessness and negligence of residents.
What is the city doing other than fines? Public education is not working as well as it should be. Moral suasion has very little to no effect. If it did, why are there so many bears being killed needlessly every year?
In the end, when we kill the bears and other wildlife, very slowly, we are killing ourselves.
Ben Ho, Coquitlam
LATE TRASH PICKUP
The Editor,
One evening while at a friend’s house, we saw the bear that was killed just taking its time wandering into a neighbour’s carport, then crossing into the next yard, then disappearing between two houses. A car had been following the bear for half an hour and someone called the BC Conservation officers.
A few things come to mind when you hear of bears and cougars being shot so near home, including the overbuilding of Burke Mountain. Another is late green waste pickup; some of my neighbours have been fined so I am up early and put out four cans every week between 5:30 and 6 a.m.
Well it is now 5 p.m. and it has still not been picked up. Ever since we got these new cans, it was always picked up by 9:30 a.m. at the latest. Now, it’s later and later, and we are told they have problems. Really? There is no snow, the roads are clear, does Coquitlam need a new service provider?
As well, I think the regular garbage can could be redesigned with a lock. I live near Mundy Park, where there is a bear and cub wandering around and they don’t wait until it is dark to look for food.
Shirley Magliocco, Coquitlam
