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July 08, 2015 - 9:30 AM
PORT HARDY - A B.C. Conservation officer has been suspended without pay after he reportedly refused an order to put down two bear cubs last weekend.
The cubs were orphaned after their mother was destroyed for breaking into a meat freezer inside a mobile home in Port Hardy on Vancouver Island.
After tranquilizing the cubs, Bryce Casavant brought them to a vet to be checked out and then to the North Island Wildlife Recovery Association operated by Robin Campbell.
Campbell says the bears, believed to be around eight weeks old, were at the home only because they were looking for their mother.
An online petition has been launched by the association calling on B.C. Environment Minister Mary Polak to reinstate Casavant.
The petition had collected well over 17,000 names by early Wednesday.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2015