I am going to start this blog off with a content warning. For anyone who is sensitive around the subject, I will be touching on and discussing the euthanasia of wildlife (although I will not be going into much detail).
This last week was full of a lot of new learning experiences in which I benefited quite a bit from. One of the things I did was a problem wildlife operation almost entirely on my own; I set a bear trap on my own for the first time and subsequently, caught a bear. As you are not always guaranteed to catch a bear with a trap, this was a pretty good confidence booster for me, and a pretty good experience all around. The next step of this process, however, while still good field experience, did not do much for boosting my morale.
Bears happen to be notoriously smart; so much so that once they get into food and garbage a first time, they become habituated and lose their fear for humans remarkably fast, and continue to do so. Even if you trap and deter the bear getting into campers and food, studies have shown that they retain that knowledge and will continue to be a nuisance. Unfortunately, this means increased human contact with a dangerous wild animal. Especially with how large the bear populace is this season (in my park, namely), the only real way to handle this problem is euthanasia, as relocation has shown to be ineffective and timely. This was how my first problem wildlife operation ended.
To start, I do not have much issue with the euthanasia itself (as in, I can perform and function around it without the trauma response some people may exhibit while dealing with this subject). What did not sit well with me was how this action was reflected in the code of ethics. For those not familiar, I encourage you to read over the black belt code of ethics available in the IHC tab of the SRKF website. One of the sections of this code is as follows; Act with integrity and honour while maintaining respect for all living beings. For me, I struggle to think that the euthanasia of an animal that was simply trying to survive and did not know any better does not hold much respect in the action alone, especially when the people this action is protecting are the cause of the problem.
Fortunately, my agency and supervisors hold similar sentiments. We have policies to ensure everything is done as humanely as possible, and my mindset is that this is a task that has to be done. I will always hold the utmost respect for the wildlife whom I am responsible for and/or play a part in their euthanasia. I will value each and every life I come across, regardless of what my actions may have to be, and never take it for granted. That is how I will continue to live up to my oath.
Another aspect I am pursuing as part of this mindset is to focus on the enforcement of wildlife attractants within campsites. As people are the route of this problem, I intend to act in a way that makes sure people are the ones held accountable before it is too late.
There is much more I could comment on about the matter, but I do not wish for my blog to extend any longer than this. Maybe another time?
