An employee at AFD Petroleum Ltd. (AFD Petroleum) has been fired for breaching the company’s protocols around interactions with wildlife.

According to CBC News, Mark Skage was travelling north of Fort Nelson, B.C. when he spotted a moose calf alone on the side of the road.

When his efforts to scare the calf away from the road didn’t work, he opened the door to his pickup truck. Shortly after opening the door, the calf came over and tried climbing into the vehicle.

“After the second time she tried to get in, I looked up across the road, I just happened to glance over there — and halfway across the ditch, maybe like 50 yards, there was a black bear standing there,” Skage told CBC News.

“I just couldn’t do it, in my heart. People can say all they want. I know as outdoorsmen, we talk about predator control…black bears are the number one predator for those calves.”

When the calf’s mother didn’t show up and scare the bear away, Skage decided to take the calf with him.

He called the B.C. Conservation Officer Service and the calf was taken to a wildlife rehabilitation centre several days later.

Company’s response

In an emailed statement to CBC News, AFD Petroleum president Dale Reimer said Skage shouldn’t have taken matters into his own hands.

“Instead of reporting the situation to a conservation officer and allowing the authorities to handle the rescue and relocation of the moose, the individual made the independent decision to transport an uninjured moose calf, a wild animal,...

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