Mark Robertson

Mark Robertson

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Conservation officer fired because he refused to kill two scared bear cubs

Baby Bear Climbing A Tree

Photo: Getty Images

Conservation officer Bryce Casavant was punished by effectively being terminated because he spared the lives of two innocent and scared bear cubs.

He was ordered to euthanize the cubs, who were found in a residential area after its mother was killed for repeatedly breaking into a home.

Two cubs in the backyard of someone's house are approached by officers trying to restrain them.

Casavant realizes the cubs pose no danger and were simply terrified. His orders from above: kill the cubs.

He could not do it. Despite knowing authorities would give him a strict punishment, he did not obey knowing the cubs didn't deserve to die. They were ultimately transfered to the North Island Wildlife Recovery Center and then released back into the wild. Casavant was dismissed from his position. Here's a video on his story....

But the story doesn't end there.

That incident took place in 2015.

Just a few weeks ago, justices in British Columbia’s appellant court ruled that the province did not play by their own rules, meaning Bryce has been, in a word, vindicated. Today, Bryce shared the story of how doing the right thing left him in a legal battle with the province that lasted over four and a half years. Additionally, Bryce recently successfully defended his doctoral thesis – which happens to look, in part, at the history of the Conservation Officer Service and how they went from game wardens to an armed law enforcement agency. In this in-depth conversation, Bryce and I discuss the background and decision of his court case, the need to have hard conversations about less visible law enforcement agencies, legislative hide and seek, mission creep, and how it feels to be vindicated.


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