Pot bears in the news

[Lallans]

The following is copied from today's edition of The National Post. TV coverage shows numerous shots of grinning RCMP officers posing with bears in the near background. Hundreds of West Coast potheads are talking this over and smacking their heads saying "Why didn't we think of that, Dude?"

Of course the sad thing is that this may not end well for the critters.

STORY:

One ‘oddball,’ 10 black bears, and $1-million worth of pot

RCMP
RCMP officers raided a marijuana grow operation in Christina Lake, B.C., last month and found sedate, docile bears roaming the area.

It is common knowledge in Christina Lake in southeastern B.C. that a local woman known as the “Bear Lady” had befriended the wild animals at her remote cabin. But no one seemed to realize the bears were protecting what police describe as a million-dollar marijuana grow-op.

Deep in B.C.’s bear country, a half-hour’s drive up a steep logging road in the foothills of the Rockies, RCMP and a local police detachment from Nelson, acting on a tip, converged on the “Bear Lady’s” cabin in the Kootenay region.

Investigators say they confiscated a million dollars’ worth of marijuana plants growing in the thick brush. But first they came upon at least 10 full-grown black bears lazing about the property.

Police were taken aback at first, and one officer armed himself with a police shotgun in case the bears became aggressive, said RCMP Sergeant Fred Mansveld, whose team made the arrests.

“They soon realized [the bears] were very docile and very laid back, wandering throughout the property,” he said. Dog food had been left out for the bears, which seemed well-fed and posed no threat to the officers.

With no interference from the bears, investigators removed between 1,000 and 1,100 marijuana plants valued at about $1 million from the property. They also found a pot-bellied pig in the house and a raccoon sleeping on a bed. Provincial conservation officers are conducting their own investigation because it is illegal to keep or feed wildlife.

The property owners, a man and woman in their early 50s, were arrested and later released. No names have been made public and the investigation continues.

Many residents agreed that there were no hints of illegal activity in those hills, although marijuana cultivation is common in the region. You could live alone for years in the hills, although the population of Christina Lake swells to nearly 10,000 in summer months, when tourists flock to its beaches and rental cabins.

Christina Lake is a remote area that is home to bears, elk, deer and mountain sheep. With just 1,500 year-round residents in the town, it’s the kind of place everyone knows everyone. No one was willing to give their name for this story, but most people had encountered the “Bear Lady.”

She lives a solitary life, driving her beat-up pickup down the hill into the town by the lake just once in a while to work at odd jobs. She mostly travels alone and many locals were unaware that she was married. The cabin where she lives with her husband may not have running water and she comes into town to wash and get supplies for the property, including the dog food, according to residents.

But suggestions that she had used the bears as guard animals were dismissed as false.

“If she has a grow-op, that’s not why she [keeps the bears]. She feeds all the wildlife up there,” said one woman who has lived in Christina Lake for 30 years.

“She’s just different. People in their rational mind probably wouldn’t feed the bears. You’d probably try to avoid them. But she puts food out for them.

She’s very much into thinking the bears are part of her friends. I don’t think she realizes they are not a domesticated animal.”

Little is known about the woman’s life, although she is a long-time resident and a familiar sight.

There is nothing unusual about her appearance, said one woman who has lived in Christina Lake for 15 years. “She’s normal-looking with some strange ideas, I guess…. She’s just a little eccentric. She’s kind of like a community figure.”

One man, who used to own a bar and restaurant in town, had become friendly with the woman and said he was surprised by news of the arrest. He said that she was different but kind. “She probably trusts [animals] more than humans. A lot of people do,” he said. He said she would pet and hold the animals on her property, including the bears.

“She’s kind of an oddball,” he said. “I think she’s harmless enough.”

RCMP Constable Dave Smith said the Kootenays have prime marijuana growing conditions. “There’s a lot of pot in that area. It’s rural, it’s unoccupied… It’s hot, dry and there are a lot of areas where you can grow plants and nobody’s going to see it.”

As for the animals, Dave Webster, the provincial conservation officer handling the animal issues said he is monitoring the situation and if the bears cannot reintegrate into the wild and display aggressive behaviour in pursuit of food, they will be have to be
Read more: http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/08...#ixzz0x3dmkyhx

[Riverkilt]

Whoa - some of that BC Bud is potent stuff!

Reminds me of the dead bear in Georgia that ate a bag of cocaine it found - lost from an air drop...bear died though.

[wildrover]

No kiddin'. Interesting story...btw, I thought you guys decriminalized that stuff?

I have so many mixed opinions on this...honestly, a lot of "live and let live" there...but...that much weed is only gonna cause problems later down the line, I think.

I guess they could always just burn the evidence...

-Sean

[Lallans]

No kiddin'. Interesting story...btw, I thought you guys decriminalized that stuff?

-Sean

Briefly, but not for trafficking. It would close the border if we kept up even the personal use policy. Not that I would necessarily support the idea; I never knew anyone who used MJ (and I once knew a few ) who wasn't fried 101% of the time- in the pot world, there seems to be no such thing as an occasional participant.

Fortunately the bears don't seem to have caught on... although they do seem unusually pacified, don't they?

[wildrover]

Fortunately the bears don't seem to have caught on... although they do seem unusually pacified, don't they?

I will admit, I did wonder if the bears were getting a special blend of dog food...

[Bigkahuna]

Reminds me of Tommy Chong passing the "Labrador" to Cheech Marin. Seems we might have nickle bags of "Black Bear" making the rounds soon.

[Mike_Oettle]

Wildrover wrote: “I guess they could always just burn the evidence . . . ”

A lot of marijuana (in South Africa it is known as dagga) is grown in Transkei, as well as in Zululand.
A key route between western part of Transkei and Cape Town passes through the Eastern Cape towns of Queenstown and Tarkastad.
The police (national) and traffic police (provincial) used to have roadblocks at Tarkastad checking on what went through, and used to confiscated large quantities of the stuff.
When local magistrate’s court had convicted the traffickers, the police had to get rid of the stuff. Once a week a steam train went from Queenstown to Tarkastad (a dead end line), and on that day the police would take their bags of unwanted dagga down to the station and chuck it into the locomotive’s firebox.
It was said that the train was “high” on its way back to Queenstown.
Steam locomotives were withdrawn from most routes about 30 years ago, and many routes are no longer in use (I don’t think Tarkastad has seen a train in all those years).
So I wonder what the Tarkastad police do with all their dagga these days . . .
Regards,
Mike

[Lallans]

Reminds me of Tommy Chong passing the "Labrador" to Cheech Marin. Seems we might have nickle bags of "Black Bear" making the rounds soon.

Given the well-known behaviour of bears in the woods, one could also advertise said product as "organically fertilized".

[Lallans]

In case anyone was worried the concentrated population of bears would be put down if they did become aggressive once the dog food was cut off, yesterday Canadian media had the reassuring story that Hollywood stars and others are rallying to assist in their rehabilitation. For instance, Jason Priestly, the Canadian who as a guy in his 30s played one of the teen leads in 90210, has made offers of "donations and other assistance" to ensure the bears make it through this difficult period of withdrawal.

[wildrover]

Given the well-known behaviour of bears in the woods, one could also advertise said product as "organically fertilized".

It'll sell like that boutique coffee that's been preprocessed by cats.

In case anyone was worried the concentrated population of bears would be put down if they did become aggressive once the dog food was cut off, yesterday Canadian media had the reassuring story that Hollywood stars and others are rallying to assist in their rehabilitation. For instance, Jason Priestly, the Canadian who as a guy in his 30s played one of the teen leads in 90210, has made offers of "donations and other assistance" to ensure the bears make it through this difficult period of withdrawal.

If anyone would understand withdrawal, it would be a bunch of people in Hollywood ...