Poignant tale of three bears

A story of three bears, without Goldilocks, is in the news in Canada. It began last month when a female black bear began breaking into a mobile home in Port Hardy, Vancouver Island, to steal meat and fish from a freezer.

The owner complained to the authorities, who sent conservation officer Bryce Casavant, the Canadian equivalent of an Irish wildlife ranger, to deal with the problem. People are warned to stay away from bears and not to feed them. An animal becoming habituated to humans is dangerous and has to go. Casavant killed the intruder but that wasn’t the end of the story.

On July 5, two eight-week old cubs, a brother and sister, showed up at the mobile home, looking for their dead mother. Casavant was expected to kill them also but he hesitated.