Impending Spring Hunt Imperils Iconic Spirit Bear
Bear-viewing guide believes there are no more than 200 of the white-coated creatures: ‘I’m very sad. I can’t believe this hunt exists’
By Mark Hume, Canada's Globe and Mail
Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010
Vancouver- When a huge, glowing figure representing a spirit bear rose from the floor
during the Olympic opening ceremonies, Doug Neasloss watched with a mix of
emotions.
Mr. Neasloss, a bear viewing guide, was thrilled to see the iconic white
bears of British Columbia's central coast getting such reverential
treatment. But at the same time, he knew that in a few weeks B.C.'s spring
bear hunt would be under way, putting at risk the animal that gave rise to
one of the enduring images of the Games and inspired the creation of the
Olympic mascot, Miga.
“I'm shocked that this still happens," Mr. Neasloss said of the bear hunt.
“I'm very sad. I can't believe this hunt exists."
Spirit or Kermode bears are a white-coated genetic variation of black bears.
Their population is concentrated in an area known as the Great Bear
Rainforest, on the central coast north of Vancouver Island. Hunting is
restricted in only about 2 per cent of that range.
Mr. Neasloss said that although the official population estimate is 400
white bears on B.C.'s coast, he and others who spend several months a year
watching the bears think there are far fewer.
“I am out all the time on the salmon streams and along the beaches. I would
say, at a stretch, there are no more than 200," he said. “There are fewer
spirit bears in the world than there are pandas [which number about 1,600].
And would anybody sanction a trophy hunt for pandas?"
Mr. Neasloss said hunters can't legally shoot the rare white bears, but they
can kill black bears that have black coats. About one in 10 of the black
bears in the area carry a recessive gene that gives their cubs white fur.
“Whenever a hunter shoots a black bear in the Great Bear Rainforest, he is
potentially killing a future spirit bear," said Mr. Neasloss, who guides for
Spirit Bear Adventures, in the remote village of Klemtu on Princess Royal
Island.
Mr. Neasloss is in Vancouver this week promoting ecotourism and lobbying for
an end to the black and grizzly bear hunts while international media are in
the city for the Olympics.
“I've been guiding now for 10 years and have taken thousands of people out
to see these bears. About 80 per cent of my clients come from Europe, 15 per
cent are from the U.S. and only 5 per cent come from Canada. That's part of
the problem," he said, suggesting few Canadians appreciate how rare the
bears are.
Mr. Neasloss said the Kitasoo Xaixais creation story says the bears have
supernatural powers and were put on Earth as a reminder of the Ice Age.
He said shooting bears is easy in the Great Bear Rainforest. One bear he
observed over several years, and which had become used to humans, was killed
last year by hunters.
“We were coming back from bear viewing and we passed this boat with guys
dressed in camouflage gear," he said. “They went to the river where we'd
just spent hours sitting in the forest watching this bear feed. And the next
day we came back to find the bear had been shot."
This week, a collection of environmental groups – from Canada, Sweden,
Croatia, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain and the U.S. – bought full-page
ads in local Vancouver newspapers decrying the bear hunt. “There is one
sport that British Columbia does not want the world to know about," states
the ad copy, over a picture of a grizzly bear with a bull's eye on its
shoulder.
The grizzly bear hunt is controversial because of declining bear
populations, thought to be linked to poor salmon runs. A coastal grizzly
bear study is to resume this spring after the bears emerge from hibernation.
A spokesman for B.C. Environment Minister Barry Penner said he was not
available to answer questions on the issue.