In late October, the B.C. government announced that November 4 would be Conservation Officer Appreciation Day — just in time to celebrate the COS’s 110th anniversary.
As such events go, politicians lined up to praise the hard work and dedication the conservation officers do every single day of the year in protecting our wildlife and nature against poachers and polluters.
I can’t help but look at it with some measure of cynicism.
For many years the COS has been a regular target for government cuts to the point that the agency is just barely able to fulfill their mandate.
These drastic cuts resulted in diminished “boots on the ground.” Conservation officers are the police force for all things to do with wildlife, fish and environment.
As such, they make sure that the laws pertaining to environmental protection, hunting fishing and leisure boating are observed, investigate violations, and answer to wildlife nuisance calls, livestock predation and vehicle accidents involving wildlife.
It is an immense task to be carried out by 150 field offices across this vast province of ours.
I remember back in 2010 when the government cut the COS so severely that they had no money left in their budget to fill up the gas tanks of the patrol vehicles.
To solve the problem the government suggested that the conservation officers stop patrolling and only answer to emergency calls, and that they should contact the RCMP to give them a ride in their patrol vehicles to attend these emergencies.
At that time the late Bill Otway and I had an idea to shame the government into providing necessary funding so that the conservation officers could do their important job without having to beg the RCMP for a ride.
Bill Otway, who lived here in Merritt, was no stranger to hunters and anglers throughout Canada.
He was without question one of the most politically active and outspoken of conservationists and an advocate for hunters and anglers on a federal and provincial level with many regular contacts to ministers and party leaders.
Bill did not mince words and was never afraid to take action when it was needed.
Bill and I decided to put “poor boxes” up in several stores around Merritt to collect money for the conservation officers so they could fuel their patrol vehicles up.
Since Bill Otway had good connections to the national and provincial media the “poor box” stunt was well covered in newspapers and television here in B.C. and across Canada.
It was about two days into our “poor box” action plan that Bill called to tell me that he got a phone call from the premier’s office asking us to stop our campaign.
Evidently, the government had been flooded with messages from people and calls from media outlets and suddenly found money in their budget that they could make available to the conservation service to fuel their patrol vehicles!
Bill laughed and said, “And that is how it’s done with government types. You just have to embarrass them and they will find money somewhere.”
Sometimes I wish Bill Otway was still around to hold the government officials feet to the fire on pressing topics.
It may come as a surprise to urbanites that it was hunters and anglers that stood up for the conservation service officers in a time when they needed help.
Anglers and hunters have always been close allies of the conservation officers and it is not uncommon for them to be the first ones to inform the COS of wildlife and environment infractions, or to report poachers and polluters.
Conservation services appreciate that hunters and anglers are actively engaging with them to make sure the laws are upheld and violators are reported.
I have nothing but the highest admiration for the hard work and dedication our conservation service officers do under often very difficult political and financial conditions. I wish the government would appreciate that too with action and not just a celebration and lip-service.
Othmar Vohringer lives in the Nicola Valley. He is a animal behaviourist and outdoor writer for hunting magazines in Canada and the U.S. www.othmarvohringer.com
