The financial incentive to provide details for an investigation into the culprit responsible for killing a family of black bears found in Roberts Creek has more than doubled to $2,600 as of Oct. 16, with the extra money coming from individual local donors from Gibsons, Sechelt and Roberts Creek.
“Within hours of our reward being posted we began receiving emails and phone calls,” said Lesley Fox, executive director of The Fur-Bearers, the organization that originally offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to a conviction. “Everyone has been really nice and incredibly generous and certainly wants to see those responsible apprehended,” Fox said. “We could see more donations in the coming days.”
Donors include Bob Minnes from Wilson Creek who gave $100 to the cause. He told Coast Reporter he wants to “encourage people to give as much as possible.”
“We don’t want people in the community to shoot animals,” he said when asked why he is donating. “It’s terrible.”
Last week Coast resident Allan Harding added $1,000 to the pot following the not-for-profit’s announcement it would be providing a financial reward.
The Conservation Officer Service (COS) started its investigation after a resident found the bodies of a sow and two cubs on an embankment near a Forest Service Road in Roberts Creek. Sechelt-based Sgt. Dean Miller said they have received a few reports about the incident but nothing concrete had come of them as of Oct. 16.
He also noted that officers have been busy with bear incidents lately, due in part to residents making food accessible to bears, which lures them into residential areas. “The berries have run their course and it’s getting later in the year and we still have pretty warm temperatures, so denning is not really happening and we’re finding bears are doing a few more extreme behaviours. So it’s keeping us quite busy,” he told Coast Reporter. “We’d rather be investigating environmental and fish and wildlife crimes,” he said.
Anyone with extra information is encouraged to contact the Report All Poachers and Polluters (RAPP) line at 1-877-952-7277.
