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Canadian bears aren’t very good watchdogs for weed

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The idea was simple -- if not simple-minded: grow marijuana in the woods near Christina Lake, British Columbia, and use wild bears to keep away law enforcement (and poachers). Keep the bears happy by feeding them dog food. Let Mother Nature do her thing, and later profit!

Sure enough, the Mounties arrived and on cue the dozen-or-so bears greeted the visitors. But instead of chasing away the law, the bears just played around with the cop car and wandered off.

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‘They were tame, they just sat around watching. At one point one of the bears climbed onto the hood of a police car, sat there for a bit and then jumped off,’ Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Fred Mansveld told the BBC.

Just another half-baked plot that went up in smoke as two people were arrested on the pot plantation that was yielding over 2,000 marijuana plants.

Although the photos of the smiling mounties next to the tame bears are cute, because the pot-growers had been feeding the animals (an illegal act in Canada), officials say the bears may have to be put down. The fear is that because the bears are now comfortable around humans, they are more likely to attempt to interact with people again -- something that is safe for neither people nor bears.

Another theory is that the bears were being kept as pets, which is also probably a funny idea to those under the influence, but a bad one for any clear-headed thinker.

Correction: The bears were originally identified as grizzlies, however, they are black bears.

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-- Tony Pierce

Top photo: Members of the West Kootenay Traffic Services Integrated Road Safety Unit with Nelson Municipal PD, Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers and Grand Forks Detachment pose for a photo, as a bear sits in the background, near a marijuana crop in Christina Lake, British Columbia on July 30, 2010.

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Second photo: A Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer poses for a photo as bears walk toward him, near a marijuana crop in Christina Lake, British Columbia on July 30, 2010.

Credits: AP/RCMP/The Canadian Press

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