B.C.'s environment minister says he stands behind how a conservation officer dealt with a sickly mother bear and her two cubs, despite opposition from an Okanagan family.

An officer responding to a call from the Borden family in Falkland shot and killed a severely underweight black bear and was ready to kill her two cubs before the family objected.

The bears are now in the care of a rehabilitation centre in Delta, and the Bordens say the conservation service should take a more humane approach to bears wandering in human territory.

But Environment Minister Murray Coell says he trusts the judgment of conservation officers.

"We leave that up to them. They're professionals; their best judgment would be that the bear would be a danger to humans," he told CTV News.

"We try and save animals. Our conservation officers always look at the safety of people and the safety of animals, and unfortunately there are instances where an animal will have to be put down for the safety of people. "

But Lynn Borden says she's disappointed by the officer's attitude towards bears.

"It's kind of discouraging to think that you're calling a conservation officer to come and help and then they say, ‘Hey, we're going to kill them.' And then I think, ‘I just signed these cubs' death sentence,'" she said.

At Critter Care, where the two cubs are being cared for, Angela Fontana agrees.

"It's disturbing to think that these people are supposed to be protecting our wildlife," she said.

According to provincial policy, before a cub can go to a rehabilitation facility, officers have to consider the health of the bear, whether it's habituated to people and their food, the availability of shelter space and the time of year.

But ultimately, it's up to the officer's discretion.

Sgt. Troy Lockwood said that while he understands that people might not like an officer's decision to shoot bear cubs, rehabilitation isn't always an option.

"The facilities have to be able to take them and there has to be a way to transport them there," he said.

Conservation officers question how orphaned cubs will affect wild populations when they're released, but they've sent 23 cubs to rehab facilities this year.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Kent Molgat