Eideard

False Creek Inlet by Vancouver

A human foot has washed up on a beach near Vancouver, the 11th such find in four years in the region, a Canadian coroner said Thursday, adding to a macabre mystery.

An autopsy on the foot established that it had become separated from its leg due to prolonged water exposure, a statement issued by the British Columbia Coroners Service said, noting no evidence of trauma.

DNA analysis was being carried out on the foot, which was found on Tuesday afternoon and was the eighth recovered in the Vancouver area since 2007. Another three feet have washed up on US beaches off neighboring Washington state in the same time period…

Although none of the medical analyses indicated foul play, local officials have said that the high number of bridges over waterways in the area points towards possible suicides of those whose feet were found.

“We cannot completely exclude a murder, we don’t know why they died, but we have no evidence they were murdered,” Coroner Stephen Fonseca, chief of the identification unit, told AFP.

“Every year we find incomplete bodies in the woodlands, on land and in water. Feet will separate naturally, by decomposition and by action of scavengers — coyotes, bears and small rodents.”

I guess we’re to presume our helpful woodland critters then carry the feet of bodies found and munched as forest snacks to nearby bodies of water – to send them off on journeys to mystify those silly humans who live nearby.

The social harm of polygamy should outweigh any fear that enforcing the laws against it will violate protections of religious freedom, Canadian prosecutors said on Monday at the start of a judicial inquiry.

The inquiry will grapple with legal and moral questions raised by a breakaway Mormon church sect that has allowed men to have multiple wives at its rural British Columbia compound since the late 1940s.

The Canadian province had long refused to file charges against the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints saying it feared the 19th century law ran afoul of more recent civil rights protections.

But provincial prosecutors told the hearing they have changed their minds, and now want the law declared constitutional so they can enforce it. Their past views had hampered their recent efforts to file criminal charges…

The FLDS, which split from the mainstream Mormon church over the issue of polygamy, has an estimated 10,000 followers in Utah, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, South Dakota and British Columbia.

The church says it is exercising religious freedom. There’s another chunk of law to consider beyond this case. After all, many global religions, most notably Islam permit polygamy. Some allow polyandry.

And if the religious question is settled to allow polygamy, how can the stae justify special treatment for a religion – and disallow the right for the secular and sensible?

Police raiding a marijuana farm in western Canada were astonished to find black bears apparently guarding it.

However initial alarm wore off when officers realised the 10 or so bears did not behave aggressively and were in fact docile and tame.

Police believe dog food was used to attract the animals onto the farm in British Columbia…

Or they were stoner bears.

Two people were arrested in the raid.

The five police who went to the farm near Christina Lake, close to the US border, to dismantle the marijuana plantation were amazed when the bears loped into view.

“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 Royal Canadian Mounted Police sergeant Fred Mansveld.

In Canada, feeding bears is illegal as it leads to bears associating food with humans and increases the likelihood of bears coming into towns and cities to look for food.

Especially if they have the munchies.

A British Columbia man living in a polygamist sect has 25 wives and 101 children with brides as young as 15, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police allege.

Winston Blackmore, 52, is charged with one count of practicing polygamy as a member of the Bountiful sect, which has about 1,000 members.

In an affidavit filed with the provincial Supreme Court, the RCMP alleges since 1976, Blackmore had nine child brides, four of whom were 15, CTV reported. In Vancouver, he told reporters “that’s wrong” as documents were being filed for a pre-trial hearing.

The RCMP named four of the brides who allegedly had their first children by Blackmore before they turned 18. Federal law was changed in 2008 to raise the age of marital consent to 16 from 14.

His lawyers have said his defense will be the ban on polygamy violates Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Preliminary hearings are scheduled for April, but Blackmore’s lawyers are trying to have the case thrown out on procedural issues.

Must have a helluva kitchen garden.

I don’t know how he does it. It took me forever to settle down.

A bear gnawing on a fuel tank valve is suspected as the cause of a 1,000-gallon diesel fuel spill on British Columbia’s west coast. Sometime last weekend, a valve on the tank at a remote fishing camp in Rivers Inlet, 300 miles northwest of Vancouver, was opened, leading to a spill and creating an oil slick miles long.

Police found bite marks on a plastic bag placed over the valve, which Jacques Drisdelle, provincial coordinator for the Bear Aware advocacy group, told the newspaper isn’t unusual.

“A very hungry, desperate bear will go for fuel,” he said. “It has a sweet taste so they will consume fuel and oil.”

Life is like a box of chocolates – ain’t it?

Just for Cinaedh and his luncheon guest