Aug 31 TMTV/BCTV - The people busted for a grow op in Christina Lake BC who were feeding up to 24 bears to apparently protect their crops will be allowed to continually feed the bears.

Allen Pinche feeds two bears a bucket load of dog food on his rural propert

Grow-op bears to dine on dog food until winter, B.C. ministry declares

A British Columbia couple who have been feeding 24 black bears dog food have been ordered to continue feeding them until the middle of November, when the bears are expected to go into hibernation.

And that, Environment Minister Barry Penner admits, is one of the strangest decisions his ministry has ever had to make.

"I've never heard of anything like it," Penner said Tuesday of the ministry's plan for dealing with a troop of overfed, happy and non-threatening bears found wandering around the couple's isolated Christina Lake property when it was raided by RCMP officers last month.

The officers were there to search for marijuana plants — 1,000 were found — but it quickly turned into one of the most famous drug busts in B.C. history when the news got out that the officers were shooing bears out of the basement while others ambled around the property as amiable as house pets — one even climbing onto a squad car.

"Every one seems to have forgotten the drug bust," said RCMP Sgt. Fred Mansveld with a laugh. "Now we've got movie stars donating money for them. No one's talking about drugs — it's all about black bears and dog food."

The couple — whose names haven't been released as drug charges haven't been approved — will have to cover the cost of the dog food until the fall, as 24 hungry bears might not be as playful, Penner admitted.

"That's why we want to give the bears the option to disperse on their own as the question is, would their mild behavior change if they were refused handouts?" he said.

"It's a less than ideal solution, but we're stuck. We just don't want to kill these animals," he said.

The residents are also under investigation by the Environment Ministry for feeding wild animals, which is an offence, Penner said.

He rejected the notion that the bears were enticed by food so they could be used as guard animals to protect the grow operation.

"That's just media speculation. If that was (the suspects') intention, then they weren't very aggressive guards. They weren't deterring anybody from visiting the place," he said.

Penner said the residents have been told to cut back on the amount of food they've been giving the bears as conservation officers found the animals to be overweight and larger than they would be in the wild.

"Trying to ween them off dog food is an innovative approach," he admitted. "But this is a dilemma. The last thing conservation officers want to do is to destroy the bears, especially when they've been deliberately habituated to humans. Relocating is expensive and is not always successful," he said.

"However, there remains an issue of public safety and the two individuals have agreed to help us deal with the problem and help with the transition," he said.

Wildlife experts and biologists are hoping that when the bears come out of hibernation in the spring, they will have forgotten about the dog food and will seek natural food sources. At least that's the theory. Once hibernation is over, conservation officers will monitor the situation, Penner said.

Meanwhile, Mansveld said the drug investigation is continuing and a report will be sent to the Crown counsel's office once it is complete.

"I worked in Vancouver and if we'd have found bears in someone's basement, it would have been a heck of a fuss, but out here, the guys just took it all in stride.

"I was proud of them. Some of the bears were pretty big. We kept an eye on them and we had a shotgun handy but no one wants to kill an animal," he said.

In the end, as Penner pointed out, only time will tell how the situation turns out.

"These are 24 bears whose lives are in jeopardy because of the illegal conduct of individuals. We hope it turns out well for the bears. But we won't know until next year if this has a happy ending," he said.

VIDEO TMTV for Global TV -  Bears Guard Grow-Op