Man arrested for ‘interfering with conservation officers’ trying to kill black bear

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SURREY (NEWS 1130) – It’s not the first time we’ve told you about a bear being killed in Metro Vancouver, but last night’s shooting of a black bear in Surrey ended with a witness arrested for interfering with conservation officers.

The man insists the only thing he’s guilty of is carrying bear spray. Chris Strotmann says he and his dog spent several minutes tracking the animal before it was killed by conservation officers, but he still doesn’t know why he ended up in the back of an RCMP cruiser.

“You’re being charged for disarming a police officer. What the heck? What are you talking about? Disarming a police officer. Which police officer did I disarm? After I rounded it up and had it treed and gift-wrapped basically for them,” he says.

Strotmann admits he tracked the young bear down with his dog and some bear spray near his home in the Guildford area, but he denies he tried to interfere with conservation officers.

“So they threw me down to the ground, punched me in the gut and threw my hand behind my back and threw me in the car again and hurt my back. Then, after that, they wen’t back into my yard and shot the bear…. You know, it was very, very disappointing. In the morning, they’re telling me they were looking to tranquilize it and re-locate it. That evening, ‘Oh now, we’re just going to kill it.’ ”

He adds he suspects he’s in trouble because the bear spray taken away from him by a Mountie accidentally went off.

“When he took the bear spray from me, it was ready to go and I handed it over to him. He puts it in his pocket and as he’s trying to search me for whatever, he ends up spraying it in the, goes off and sprays some of the other officers with bear spray.”

RCMP Corporal Elenore Sturko has confirmed the arrest, but says no charges have been approved yet.

“An individual put themself in danger by going into the bushes to try to prevent them from putting the animal down,” she tells NEWS 1130. “Our investigation’s ongoing and information is being put together to forward to BC Prosecution Services.”

Meanwhile, conservation officers say this is the first time a bear has been spotted in Surrey since 2013 and they had to destroy it because it was eating garbage, killing backyard chickens and had even wandered into the grounds of the Harold Bishop school.

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