Canadian Royal Mounties are used to finding guards when they raid one of the country’s illegal marijuana farms or “grow ops” as they are known. The owners of such farms have been known to employ humans, dogs and even booby traps to deter thieves who might come after their crops. So when Mounties went to raid such a farm in a remote part of westernmost Canada that it was being guarded was no surprise. Who was guarding it was though.

The officers were astonished to see a pack of black bears standing guard over the crops they had come to confiscate. Not that they were doing a very good job though, said Police Sergeant Fred Mansveld. “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,” said Mansveld.

All of the officers who took part in the raid were used to working with animals and once it became apparent the bears were very docile they were not at all afraid of the “pot guards”
As amusing as all this sounds, by taming the bears the two owners of the marijuana farm may have condemned them to death.

Sergeant Mansveld said they believed that the bears were regularly fed dog food to encourage them to stick around to guard the farm. Under law that is illegal. If a bear becomes “tame” conservation officer Dave Webster explained to the press, it will often seek out other people to feed it as well, destroying property and sometimes injuring humans.

“If a bear is deemed to be a safety risk and is habituated to human food and not able to feed itself in the wild, it will be destroyed,” he explained.
Mr. Webster is conducting an investigation into the case to determine if the drug farm bears can be spared.


Sounds to me like the bears might have been in the crop!
AAnt

And this is the kind of '' problems '' that our country has? a war against marijuana? come on! make that shit legal and you'll see how the economy will pick itself up!

Yeah, legalizing marijuana will solve all of the economy's problems.

Yup, then all the junkies will be happy.

So in Canada you have large marijana plantations kind of like "the beach" except yours are guarded by Bears instead of armed henchmen??
Interesting, can you keep a black bear as a pet?

Quote from anttt69 :

So in Canada you have large marijana plantations kind of like "the beach" except yours are guarded by Bears instead of armed henchmen??
Interesting, can you keep a black bear as a pet?

The Pot trade in Canada is said to be worth about 2 billion a year, British Columbia grows some of the strongest Pot in the world, and it's been a debate for a long time weather the Government shouldn't legalize it to gain the revenue.

You're not allowed to keep a Black Bear as a pet, and this is a case of some pots heads thinking it would be a good idea to have them guard their crop.

Back in Jan of 2004 this happened.Keep in mind this is one of Canada's' biggest beer companies.

In 2000 and 2001 Molson breweries underwent some fairly major restructuring, some of which was reported on this site. They bought back the 49% share of the company formerly owned by Cooper's of Australia, bought Brazilian Kaiser Brewery, and closed down several major operations in Canada, consolidating their brewing.


Today Police raided the massive former Molson brewery in Barrie Ontario, which was closed in 2000. It seems the plant had gone from making Coors, to making Bud. And we do not mean the stuff made famous by Anheuser-Busch! Shown here is the grow operation that was found inside one of the massive beer tanks.

In a joint operation of the Ontario Provincial Police and Barrie Police Service, thousands of pot plants were seized in this community about an hour north of Toronto. And thousands more were seized from a nearby building. With more than 60,000 square feet the operations were larger than a football field, and even included dormitory quarters for up to 50 workers. Total street value of the crop was estimated at $30 million.
Nine people were arrested on-site in what is being described as the largest grow operation bust in Canadian history.



Here's a link to give you an idea of the scale of that operation, enjoy
AAnt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LbB9zmD9IE

Oh btw, about the bears having to be killed because they are "tame": Don't you have zoos in Canada?

Quote from zeugnimod :

Oh btw, about the bears having to be killed because they are "tame": Don't you have zoos in Canada?

No. Only Igloo's and Marajuana.

Funny story about this.. it's actually on Vancouver Island.. within about 70KM of me :P

Quote from zeugnimod :

Oh btw, about the bears having to be killed because they are "tame": Don't you have zoos in Canada?

We have Bear Rehab Centers, but those are for young bears that can be re introduced to the wild. We have lots of zoos, but face it, it would be like putting dogs in a zoo in Korea, they are just so many of the beasts here.

The real shame is the people who put the bears in this spot in the first place, they don't seem to care for anything but the money.

AAnt

Quote from AtomAnt :

We have Bear Rehab Centers, but those are for young bears that can be re introduced to the wild. We have lots of zoos, but face it, it would be like putting dogs in a zoo in Korea, they are just so many of the beasts here.

Good point, I didn't think of that.

They are one of the bigger "attractions" over here.

Little Update for those that care.


To the relief of a man who claims to be their self-appointed caregiver, the domesticated bears that were found roaming around a grow-op in Christina Lake, B.C., have been granted a reprieve.

Instead of destroying the bears, Environment Minister Barry Penner says they are working to wean them off dog food handouts until they go into hibernation for the winter. When they awake in spring, conservation officers hope the bears will return to their natural foraging routine. As is, the bears' dependence on humans is a threat to the public, and therefore the bears.

The bears were originally discovered about a month ago by RCMP during a raid on a Christina Lake grow-op. They were found roaming like friendly pets among the marijuana plants on the 28-hectare property, so tame that one even lounged on a police car. Police suspected the bears were being used -- albeit ineffectively -- to guard the operation.
However, a neighbour named Allen Piche claims the bears were not guarding the grow-op, and he has been acting as their caregiver for years. Piche released an online video Monday that Penner described as "disturbing." In it, Piche says 24 bears "co-habitate" with him but are free to leave. He also says he's been feeding them for a decade. The video shows Piche feeding the bears large buckets of dry dog food and cuddling a tame raccoon.

"The neighbours have had no problems in the 10 years I've been doing this," he says in the video. "I'm working with conservation (officers) for a happy ending."

That happy ending, says Penner, would be for Piche and others to stop feeding the bears entirely. However, conservation officers don't want the bears cut off "cold turkey" because they might panic, get angry and threaten public safety, says Penner. The plan instead is to slowly wean them off food over the next six weeks, as the weather turns cold and the bears go in search of hibernation dens. The people feeding them are then expected to cut them off for good.

"It's a real conundrum," says Penner. "We've never seen anything like this number of bears so very habituated to people. They seem to be dependent on these handouts. Of course, the last thing the conservation officers want to do is pull the trigger and put down these bears. It's not the bears' fault that someone was dumb enough to feed them deliberately."

People feeding the bears are under investigation, said Penner, and could still be charged under the Wildlife Act for feeding the bears in the first place.

"This is a very unusual situation," he adds. "It's necessitated an unusual solution – this is not something we would normally do."

Quote from AtomAnt :

The Pot trade in Canada is said to be worth about 2 billion a year, British Columbia grows some of the strongest Pot in the world,

Aint that the truth. Only shit I've tried that put Amsterdam award winning weed to shame :banana_ra

Shame about the bears likes. But also just a weeeeee bit lol.