A shotgun is out of unsafe hands, a black bear with a taste for livestock is dead and several recreational are users are wiser after a step up in conservation officer patrols over the May long weekend.
Conservation officers from the Ministry of Environment, teamed up with the Ministry of Forests and Range, the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts and the RCMP to ensure visitors and residents were complying to rules while enjoying recreation sites and using forest service roads.
"The Sea to Sky Corridor was very busy over the long weekend," said environment minister Barry Penner. "There were literally hundreds of contacts made with individual campers and groups out and about, people recreating."
Among the more dramatic incidents was a call regarding the discharging of a firearm around a campground. Officers attended and seized a shotgun from an intoxicated camper.
"The shotgun was seized and remains in our possession pending the investigation of the use of that shotgun," said conservation officer Chris Doyle.
Officers also attended a call in Paradise Valley from a farmer whose sheep had succumbed to a hungry black bear.
"We attended and observed the bear still in the coral feeding on the sheep and subsequently euthanized it," said Doyle.
Since the bear was already far up the valley, it could not have been successfully relocated, he said.
"Once bears start preying on livestock like that, they tend to continue that behaviour."
Officers also issued 16 violation tickets for offenses related to angling and driving, according to Chris Doyle, and 16 warnings were also issued.
"It was a busy weekend for sure. A lot of activity out there," said Doyle. "The bulk of the people we encountered were compliant, nevertheless there were a lot of people out there and some were not compliant."
And the work isn't over yet. Conservation officers are in the midst of investigating complaints of large amounts of garbage left in various locations, including Anderson beach in the Squamish Valley.
"If we're able to identify the people that were responsible then we can investigate and look at charges under the environmental management act," said Doyle. "We can also potentially make them go back and clean the mess up."
Doyle encouraged locals with issues related to wildlife or recreation areas to contact the Conservation Officer Service at 1-877-952-7277.
