Content warning: this story contains a graphic description of a dead black bear.
A camper stumbled on to an unsettling sight last week near the Big Bay provincial campground north of Campbell River.
Sanjay Srivastava is camping at the site of the Big Bay Forest Service Road. On June 2, Srivastava was driving back out to his site after spending the day in Campbell River, when he saw a group of vultures circling overhead.
RELATED: Woman receives stitches after black bear attack south of Campbell River
“I stopped my truck and my dog and I walked the berm above the road and discovered a decapitated bear. It took me a few moments to kinda comprehend what I was seeing,” he said. “As just a few inches of his spinal column where left where the bear’s head should be. The rest of the bear seemed fully intact. I was completely horrified and disturbed by the images.”
Srivastava then returned to his trailer, filled out an online RAPP (Report All Poachers and Polluters) with the B.C. Conservation Service.
Srivastava said he has not been contacted by BCCOS as of Monday.
“I just wanted to do right for the bear which I believe was the mother of a young cub,” he said. “As a cub alone has been spotted in the area. I just hate trophy hunting as that is what I see this as.”
BCCOS spokesperson David Karn told the Mirror that “Every year COS receives reports of wildlife parts being disposed of in undesirable locations. For the most part hunters dispose of wildlife remains in an ethical manner in remote locations. Currently black bear hunting season is open on Vancouver Island Region 1 (April 1-June 15).”
The Wildlife Act does require hunters to remove “the edible portions of the carcass of game to the person’s normal dwelling place or to a meatcutter or the owner or operator of a cold storage plant.”
RELATED: Data-driven salmon tool helps conservation planning
marc.kitteringham@campbellrivermirror.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter