A 78-year-old woman charged with feeding coyotes at parks in Vancouver and Burnaby has been ordered to pay $3,500 after admitting to putting out dog food and treats in Stanley Park after a series of widely publicized coyote attacks in the area.
Kemthong Clasby and her husband Terence Lee Clasby were charged in October 2021 under the B.C. Wildlife Act with two counts of feeding or trying to feed dangerous wildlife in Stanley Park and three counts of leaving or placing attractants for dangerous wildlife in Stanley Park and Burnaby's Cameron Park in the fall of 2021.
Kemthong Clasby was in Vancouver provincial court Tuesday and pleaded guilty to one count of leaving attractants in Stanley Park on Sept. 21, 2021.
The rest of the counts against her and her husband were stayed.
The province's Conservation Officer Service began investigating the Clasbys after a public complaint in August 2021, according to an agreed statement of facts presented to the court Tuesday.
On Aug. 23, 2021, members of the public reported seeing a man and a woman, later determined to be the Clasbys, placing bird seed, dog treats and dog biscuits in the park.
The CSO obtained photos of the food piles and of a Toyota RAV4 associated with the suspects.
A tracker was placed on the RAV on Sept. 11, 2021, and the CSO began monitoring the Clasby's movements.
On Sept. 19, 2021, officers observed the Clasby's park near the train station in Stanley Park, walk into the bushes and walk out.
A search of the area where the couple had been revealed piles of dog treats in one place and a pile of bread in another, according to the agreed facts.
On Sept. 21, 2021, the Clasbys returned to the same area, and more dog food and dog treats were found after they left.
The Clasbys were arrested a short time later, and a search of their vehicle turned up 139 pounds of dog food, dog treats and bird seed.
They were released but arrested again a few days later after officers observed them put bird seed in the bushes at Burnaby’s Cameron Park.
In the year before that incident, there had been 18 public complaints about coyotes and 136 complaints about black bears within three kilometres of Cameron Park, according to the facts.
The Clasbys were arrested once more after the Burnaby incident.
Crown prosecutor James Cryder said Kemthong Clasby should be sentenced to pay a total of $10,000 – a $1,000 fine and a $9,000 payment to the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation.
He cautioned against Clasby being used as a "scapegoat" for the 45 documented coyote attacks at Stanley Park between December 2020 and the end of August 2021 or the culling of 11 coyotes there.
He noted there was no evidence the food she placed had actually attracted any coyotes.
The Clasbys didn’t cause the coyote attacks, Cryder said, but the attacks were the "egregious context" of Kemthong Clasby's offence.
"You’d have to be living under a mushroom not to know this was a problem at the time," he said, referencing widespread media reports.
But Clasby's lawyer, Rob Dhanu, said Kemthong Clasby was unaware of the problem and the seriousness of her actions.
He said she doesn't keep abreast of local news and doesn't use social media.
Dhanu said Kemthong Clasby, motivated by her Buddhist beliefs, loves animals of all kinds and enjoys feeding them.
She has made donations to the BCSPCA and currently cares for a rescue dog with multiple medical issues, according to Dhanu.
He said she was "horrified" that she had had a negative impact on the Stanley Park eco system.
Dhanu noted Kemthong Clasby had never been in trouble with the law before and has had no issues on bail for the past two-and-a-half years.
He also noted her guilty plea and remorse.
Dhanu called for a fine in the range of $500 and a $1,000 payment to the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation.
In the end, B.C. provincial court Judge James Sutherland sentenced her to pay a $1,000 fine and a $2,500 payment to the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation for a total of $3,500.
"She created a dangerous situation within a dangerous context," Sutherland said. "It's aggravating where this behaviour took place. This is a very popular area for local residents and tourists year round, and it took place during well publicized coyote attacks in this populated area."
As mitigating factors, however, he noted Kemthong Clasby's guilty plea, her remorse, her lack of a criminal record, her compliance on bail and her work in the community in support of animals.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @CorNaylor
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