B.C. man who fed Timbits to bear along Alaska Highway fined $2,000

A B.C. man who posted photos of himself feeding Timbits and hot dogs to bears on social media has been fined $2,000 and ordered to stay 50 metres away from bears for six months.

Randy Scott pleaded guilty last week in a Fort Nelson courtroom to violating the B.C. Wildlife Act while in the northern part of the province.

Conservation officer Shawn Brinsky hopes the fine and the order to stay away from bears reminds people that feeding bears is a bad idea.

"Hopefully it sends a message and deters people that this is not wise, it's not lawful and it should never happen in the first place."

B.C.'s Wildlife Act states a person must not intentionally feed or attempt to feed dangerous wildlife.

Brinsky, the acting conservation inspector for the Peace River region, says Scott had been posting pictures on social media of himself feeding bears along the Alaska Highway since 2017.

On one occasion, a conservation officer patrolling the highway encountered Scott and a woman feeding a bear from their car. 

Charges were laid against the two last October after the B.C. Conservation Officer Service investigated the incidents. The woman accompanying Scott had the charges against her stayed on Tuesday.

Brinsky says there have been several instances of workers or tourists having dangerous encounters with bears along that stretch of the Alaska Highway in northeastern B.C.

He says conditioning bears to accept food from humans is not only illegal, but also dangerous for both bears and humans.