Aggressive black bear killed in Britannia Beach for public safety
A black bear that had been acting aggressively was killed by conservation officers in Britannia Beach on May 15, the Ministry of Environment and Parks confirms.
The bear had to be destroyed to 'ensure public safety as per provincial response guidelines,' said a ministry spokesperson.
The bear had become habituated to humans and was displaying unnatural,
food-conditioned
behaviour that escalated, including accessing garbage and non-natural food attractants, as well as multiple attempts to access homes, according to the spokesperson.
Though no one was injured, the bear caused property damage and repeatedly charged at people—including a responding conservation officer—as well as local dogs. Posts on the
Britannia Beach Community Bulletin Board
note that the bear had not been deterred by noise, shouting or any usual deterrent.
According to WildSafeBC,
black bears
become more assertive or destructive when they learn to associate humans or their activities with food. Bears eat mostly vegetation but are also carnivores, and while they do not actively hunt humans and usually avoid human confrontation, they can respond if threatened, or in this case, when they have become habituated.
Bears have a profound sense of smell, being able to locate food over a kilometre away.
The
Conservation Officer Service
(COS), which receives 14,000 to 25,000 calls per year regarding black bear encounters, will continue to work to increase awareness and education around the importance of attractant management, the spokesperson said.
'Securing materials that may attract bears, such as garbage, pet food and birdseed, is the best way to help keep people and bears safe,' the ministry spokesperson said.
Wildlife conflicts involving bears that are aggressive, or sightings in urban areas should be reported to the police or the COS at 877-952-7277.
Ina Pace is The Squamish Chief's Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) reporter.
This reporting was produced through the
LJI,
which supports original civic journalism across Canada.
Leave a comment
Have a story idea?
Letter to the editor
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hamilton Spectator
22-05-2025
- Hamilton Spectator
Aggressive black bear killed in Britannia Beach for public safety
A black bear that had been acting aggressively was killed by conservation officers in Britannia Beach on May 15, the Ministry of Environment and Parks confirms. The bear had to be destroyed to 'ensure public safety as per provincial response guidelines,' said a ministry spokesperson. The bear had become habituated to humans and was displaying unnatural, food-conditioned behaviour that escalated, including accessing garbage and non-natural food attractants, as well as multiple attempts to access homes, according to the spokesperson. Though no one was injured, the bear caused property damage and repeatedly charged at people—including a responding conservation officer—as well as local dogs. Posts on the Britannia Beach Community Bulletin Board note that the bear had not been deterred by noise, shouting or any usual deterrent. According to WildSafeBC, black bears become more assertive or destructive when they learn to associate humans or their activities with food. Bears eat mostly vegetation but are also carnivores, and while they do not actively hunt humans and usually avoid human confrontation, they can respond if threatened, or in this case, when they have become habituated. Bears have a profound sense of smell, being able to locate food over a kilometre away. The Conservation Officer Service (COS), which receives 14,000 to 25,000 calls per year regarding black bear encounters, will continue to work to increase awareness and education around the importance of attractant management, the spokesperson said. 'Securing materials that may attract bears, such as garbage, pet food and birdseed, is the best way to help keep people and bears safe,' the ministry spokesperson said. Wildlife conflicts involving bears that are aggressive, or sightings in urban areas should be reported to the police or the COS at 877-952-7277. Ina Pace is The Squamish Chief's Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) reporter. This reporting was produced through the LJI, which supports original civic journalism across Canada. Leave a comment Have a story idea? Letter to the editor
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Yahoo
Couple faces massive fine after shocking poaching cover-up gets exposed: 'Unlawful possession of dead wildlife'
Two people in Cranbrook, British Columbia, were charged in February with a whopping collective $6,000 for illegally poaching a deer and then lugging it away, My East Kootenay Now reported. The laws in place in Cranbrook — as well as most areas that allow hunting — set hunting parameters using deer antlers, with each tine (or antler branch) being counted in a point system. The rules in place often limit lower-point deer hunting, as this often signifies immature age. The mule deer these individuals killed was three points, while the law required four points to hunt them legally. After a complaint call to the Report All Poachers and Polluters hotline from a witness, the British Columbia Conservation Officer Service went to investigate the couple. According to My East Kootenay Now, COS reported that the woman told them "she had killed a four-point mule deer but forgot to cancel her species license, and a bear had come and taken the mule deer's head along with the antlers." Despite what she reported, the couple had actually tried to hide their actions from authorities by sawing the antlers from the deer and ditching the carcass nearby. After lying to the officials, the conservation officers, along with COS K9 Major, discovered the implicating remains in a nearby garbage dump. According to a post on the British Columbia Conservation Office Service Facebook page, the woman who had killed the deer pleaded guilty to "two counts under the Wildlife Act; for killing wildlife not within an open season and resisting or obstructing an officer in their duty." She is expected to pay a $4,000 fine and has been banned for three years from hunting. The post also said the man she was with pleaded guilty to "one count under the Wildlife Act, for the unlawful possession of dead wildlife." He received a $2,000 fine and an 18-month hunting ban. While laws about poaching have become more strict throughout the world to protect animals and their ecosystems, the witness who reported this couple's act is a testament to the role of the nature-loving public. Though law and environmentalist enforcement do their best to hold people accountable, it is vital for onlookers to report any unlawful-seeming hunting. By preventing poaching, we can avoid unsafe wildlife scenarios and keep the earth a clean, natural, and plentiful space for all. Do you think America does a good job of protecting its natural beauty? Definitely Only in some areas No way I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Yahoo
Secret filming reveals brazen tactics of immigration scammers
Recruitment agents who scam foreign nationals applying to work in the UK care sector have been exposed by BBC secret filming. One of the rogue agents is a Nigerian doctor who has worked for the NHS in the field of psychiatry. The Home Office has acknowledged the system is open to abuse, but the BBC World Service's investigation shows the apparent ease with which these agents can scam people, avoid detection, and continue to profit. Our secret filming reveals agents' tactics, including: Illegally selling jobs in UK care companies Devising fake payroll schemes to conceal that some jobs do not exist Shifting from care to other sectors, like construction, that also face staff shortages Reports of immigration scams have increased since a government visa scheme - originally designed to let foreign medical professionals work in the UK - was broadened in 2022 to include care workers. To apply for the visa, candidates must first obtain a "Certificate of Sponsorship" (CoS) from a UK employer who is licensed by the Home Office. It is the need for CoS documents that is being exploited by rogue relocation agents. "The scale of exploitation under the Health and Care Work visa is significant," says Dora-Olivia Vicol, CEO of Work Rights Centre, a charity that helps migrants and disadvantaged people in the UK access employment justice. "I think it has turned into a national crisis." She says there is "systemic risk inherent" in the sponsorship system, because it "puts the employer in a position of incredible power" and has "enabled this predatory market of middlemen to mushroom". The BBC sent two undercover journalists to approach relocation agents working in the UK. One met Dr Kelvin Alaneme, a Nigerian doctor and founder of the agency, CareerEdu, based in Harlow, Essex. His website states his business is a "launchpad for global opportunities catering to young Africans", claiming to have 9,800 "happy clients". Believing the BBC undercover journalist was well connected in the UK care sector, Dr Alaneme tried to recruit her to become an agent for his business, saying it would be very lucrative. "Just get me care homes. I can make you a millionaire," he said. As a potential business partner, our journalist was then given unprecedented insight into how immigration scams by agents like Dr Alaneme actually work. Dr Alaneme said he would pay £2,000 ($2,600) for each care home vacancy she was able to procure, and offered £500 ($650) commission on top. He then said he would sell the vacancies to candidates back in Nigeria. Charging candidates for a job is illegal in the UK. "They [the candidates] are not supposed to be paying because it's free. It should be free," he said, lowering his voice. "They are paying because they know it's most likely the only way." The BBC began investigating him following a series of online complaints about his relocation services. Praise - from south-east Nigeria and in his mid 30s - was one of those who complained, claiming he paid Dr Alaneme more than £10,000 ($13,000) for a job in the UK. He says he was told he was going to be working with a care company called Efficiency for Care, based in Clacton-on-Sea. It was only when he arrived that he realised the job didn't exist. "If I had known there was no job, I would have not come here," he says. "At least back home in Nigeria, if you go broke, I can find my sister or my parents and go and eat free food. It's not the same here. You will go hungry." Praise says he messaged Efficiency for Care and Dr Alaneme for months, asking when he could start working. Despite promises of assistance from Dr Alaneme, the job never materialised. Almost a year later, he found a position with another care provider willing to sponsor him to remain in the UK. Our investigation found that Efficiency for Care employed - on average - 16 people in 2022, and 152 in 2023. Yet a letter sent from the Home Office to the company dated May 2023 - and seen by the BBC - showed it had issued 1,234 Certificates of Sponsorship to foreign workers between March 2022 and May 2023. Efficiency for Care's sponsorship licence was revoked in July 2023. The care company can no longer recruit from abroad, but continues to operate. It told the BBC it strongly refutes the allegation it colluded with Dr Alaneme. It said it believed it lawfully recruited staff from Nigeria and other countries. It has challenged the Home Office's revocation of its sponsorship licence, it said, and the matter is now in court. Outside of the UK - watch on YouTube In another secretly filmed meeting, Dr Alaneme shared an even more sophisticated scam involving sponsorship documents for jobs that did not exist. He said the "advantage" of having a CoS that is unconnected to a job "is that you can choose any city you want". "You can go to Glasgow. You can stay in London. You can live anywhere," he told us. This is not true. If a migrant arrives in the UK on a Health and Care Work visa and does not work in the role they have been assigned, their visa could be cancelled and they risk being deported. In the secret filming, Dr Alaneme also described how to set up a fake payroll system to mask the fact the jobs are not real. "That [a money trail] is what the government needs to see," he said. Dr Alaneme told the BBC he strenuously denied services offered by CareerEdu were a scam or that it acted as a recruitment agency or provided jobs for cash. He said his company only offered legitimate services, adding that the money Praise gave him was passed on to a recruitment agent for Praise's transport, accommodation and training. He said he offered to help Praise find another employer free of charge. The BBC also carried out undercover filming with another UK-based recruitment agent, Nana Akwasi Agyemang-Prempeh, after several people told the BBC they had collectively paid tens of thousands of pounds for care worker positions for their friends and family that, it transpired, did not exist. They said some of the Certificates of Sponsorship Mr Agyemang-Prempeh gave them had turned out to be fakes - replicas of real CoS issued by care companies. We discovered Mr Agyemang-Prempeh had then begun offering CoS for UK jobs in construction - another industry that allows employers to recruit foreign workers. He was able to set up his own construction company and obtain a sponsorship licence from the Home Office. Our journalist, posing as a UK-based Ugandan businessman wanting to bring Ugandan construction workers over to join him, asked Mr Agyemang-Prempeh if this was possible. He replied it was - for the price of £42,000 ($54,000) for three people. Mr Agyemang-Prempeh told us he had moved into construction because rules are being "tightened" in the care sector - and claimed agents were eyeing other industries. "People are now diverting to IT," Mr Agyemang-Prempeh told the undercover journalist. More than 470 licences in the UK care sector were revoked by the government between July 2022 and December 2024. Those licensed sponsors were responsible for the recruitment of more than 39,000 medical professionals and care workers from October 2020. Mr Agyemang-Prempeh later asked for a downpayment for the Certificates of Sponsorship, which the BBC did not make. The Home Office has now revoked his sponsorship licence. Mr Agyemang-Prempeh's defence, when challenged by the BBC, was that he had himself been duped by other agents and did not realise he was selling fake CoS documents. In a statement to the BBC, the Home Office said it has "robust new action against shameless employers who abuse the visa system" and will "ban businesses who flout UK employment laws from sponsoring overseas workers". BBC investigations have previously uncovered similar visa scams targeting people in Kerala, India, and international students living in the UK who want to work in the care sector. In November 2024, the government announced a clampdown on "rogue" employers hiring workers from overseas. Additionally, from 9 April, care providers in England will be required to prioritise recruiting international care workers already in the UK before recruiting from overseas. Investigation team: Olaronke Alo, Chiagozie Nwonwu, Sucheera Maguire, Nyasha Michelle, and Chiara Francavilla
