B.C. man pleads guilty to feeding bears - Action News
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British Columbia

B.C. man pleads guilty to feeding bears

Allen Piche admitted in the Grand Forks provincial courthouse that he fed generations of black bears that had visited his property.

Allen Piche encouraged two dozen black bears to hang around his Christina Lake property

Man who fed pot bears

14 years ago
Duration 4:00
Allen Piche explains why he fed bears on his remote B.C. property where police found a marijuana grow-op, on a video posted on Vimeo

A man from Christina Lake, B.C. pleaded guilty on Thursday to feeding two dozen black bears around his remote property.

Allen Piche admitted in the Grand Forks provincial courthouse that he hadfed generations of black bears that had visited his property.

Piche, a self-described "aging hippie" said his former partner began the feedings and he carried on when she was warned to stop because the bears kept coming back.

The feeding went on for years and likely would have continued had Piche not been visited by the RCMP last summer.

RCMP arrested him and three others in August of 2010for allegedly tending to a large outdoor marijuana grow-op.

Pinche hand feeds a bear on his rural property in this video posted on Vimeo. ((CBC))

The docile bears came out of the forest andnuzzled up to police officers. One even hung out on a police cruiser for a while.

Piche pleaded not guilty to running a grow-up, but admitted in court to feeding the bears.

He'll be sentenced this fall and, as with everything else in this unusual case, a precedent will likely be set.

Allen Piche feeds two bears a bucket of dog food on his rural property in this video posted on Vimeo. ((CBC))

Piche's lawyer is aware of only one other charge of feeding dangerous wildlife, which was in Whistler and resulted in a heavy fine.

Piche said he has plans for dealing with the habituated black bears this springwhen they come out of hibernation, but that he will not feed them.

With files from the CBC's Bob Keating