Opinion: NC Wildlife Commission has failed to protect black bear cubs, other wildlife

This is the second high-profile bear cub abuse case I am aware of in North Carolina that the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission failed to prosecute. In the first case, Richard Godley posted videos of himself and his dogs tormenting two, approximately 2-month-old cubs in Beaufort County. Two-month-old cubs weigh a mere 4-6 pounds and cannot survive without their mother. The Wildlife Commission searched for those cubs for an hour and then gave up, ensuring their deaths.

Even after Godley was interviewed by the commission, he tripled down by posting additional cub abuse videos which is why these ‘abuse for likes’ cases must be vigorously prosecuted to deter other abusers and state wildlife disturbance and abuse laws and penalties must be introduced, codified and enforced.

In this most recent ‘abuse for likes’ case, the cruel and stupid people who terrorized the two cubs in Fairview — causing one cub to go to rehab never to be reunited with its mother and likely causing the death of the other cub — will also suffer no consequences for their despicable actions. The perpetrators could have been charged with unlawful possession of a black bear and/or possession of black bear in the closed season, carrying $2,000 fines each. The commission’s tired argument that the perpetrators weren’t charged because they released the cubs is another feeble excuse for their refusal to enforce N.C.’s wildlife laws that are already wholly inadequate, even if the commission enforced them.

As we’ve recently seen in Montana where Cody Roberts ran down a juvenile wolf (a species sharing 99% of its DNA with domestic dogs) with his snowmobile and then dragged the gravely injured and terrified wolf into a relative’s bar and tortured her for several hours until he finally put her out of her misery, wildlife agencies are not friends to wildlife. Roberts' only penalty was a measly $250 fine for a sick crime that rained down international shame on Roberts, his family, community and Montana’s wildlife authorities resulting in a state tourism boycott.

Similar to N.C.’s unscientific regulation that excludes bears over 12 months from rehabilitation and leaves that age determination up to life and death guesses, Godley and the Fairview perpetrators’ actions did not fall under the possession statutes because the statutes do not specify how much time someone must hold wildlife for it to count. Since in both cases the abusers released the cubs, the commission decided they weren’t in possession long enough to violate a law that intentionally doesn’t define length of time.

If the Godley case is any indication, which in my four years of entanglement with the NCWRC it is, the commission looked only briefly for the missing cub in Fairview, their investigative will and capabilities are significantly exaggerated, and the only reason they bothered to respond is due to media pressure.

While I have long argued for rehab for bears of any age who need it, rehab is not a more optimal option for a bear cub who was living and learning from their mother. And notably, the commission has made no mention of the suffering of the cubs or anguish of the mother bear who is an individual who lost both of her babies due to the cruelty and stupidity of not only the perpetrators, but also to the gross indifference of the commission’s executive director, Cameron Ingram, who has once again failed the wildlife that belongs to all of us that he has sworn to protect.

Government wildlife agencies manage populations with no regard for individual animals’ welfare. Commission biologist, Ashley Hobbs, who, according to her LinkedIn does not have a wildlife biology degree and found one of the cubs wet, shivering and injured, and law enforcement Capt. Branden Jones, who cannot know with certainty that “no bears died” have repeatedly called the revolting abuse of the Fairview cubs an “incident” with no recognition of the value each individual animal has to each other, to their species dynamics, and to the ecological balance of their space — a value that is much, much more than a $2,232 replacement cost.

This is not the last ‘abuse for likes’ wildlife case we will see in North Carolina. While there are some prohibitions against disturbing wildlife on federal lands, North Carolina does not have laws that specifically prohibit disturbing wildlife on state lands or private property. Please contact your state legislators and demand they introduce laws with stiff penalties for disturbing North Carolina’s wildlife.

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Diana Starr is a multispecies geographer and advocate for the indigenous rights of bears.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Opinion: NC Wildlife should charge people in black bear cub case