Conservation officer fired for refusing to shoot two bears for cubs to get job back

A conservation officer fired for failing to kill animals is suing to get his job back.

Bryce Casavant was fired by the British Columbia Department of the Environment for refusing to shoot some creature cub cubs six years ago, and has since tried to recover his badge.

On July 5, 2015, the Department received a complaint from a Vancouver Island resident about a female bear and her two cubs, who came to his property and stole food from his freezer outside and rummaged through his trash.

Casavant was sent by his supervisor to ruthless all three on the grounds that they had become accustomed to human food.

The officer arrived at the scene and shot the mother dead. But when it turned the gun on the cubs, he did not pull the trigger.

After talking to the homeowner, he discovered that only the mother was seen eating the garbage; therefore, he decided that they would be killed in violation of the ministry policy, and he spared them.

Instead, he took the pair, which was about two months old and was ‘the size of two small dogs’, to a vet.

The brothers and sisters, later named Jordan and Athena, were successfully rehabilitated and eventually released back into the wild.

But while their story had a happy ending, Casavant did not: the next day, his supervisory officer filed a complaint against him for refusing to follow the orders. He was suspended pending an investigation for failure to serve, and was eventually fired. (He was transferred to another role at the Ministry with the same remuneration and location; however, he was stripped of his special provincial constable status, which is technically designated as a dismissal).

For five years, Casavant fought against the ruling in the courts; as the Toronto Star reported, he argued that he should take a special constable to fire his firearm.

Finally, on 4 June 2020, the Court of Appeal finally sided with him and officially annulled the dismissal.

After crying for 15 minutes of relief, he told the Star, ‘Then I basically said,’ Great, now that it’s all over, until Monday! ”

But there was no job for him: ‘Please note that there is no position for Mr. Casavant in the (Conservation Officer service) for which he can report on Monday, ‘the government said in an email seen by the publication.

Casavant is now suing to get his job back – and also wants to repay five years of $ 55,000 – $ 75,000 salary.