This compilation of stunning aerial footage documents unique behaviours of some of the fin, humpback, and killer whales that call the Great Bear Sea home.
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📣 We are pleased to announce that the official world premiere of Return of the Great Bear will be at the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival on February 28th at the Cinematheque in Vancouver, Canada. 🎥 📅
🎟️ Get tickets at the link in bio (online screening tickets are also available), and we will see you there!
🐻 This film tells the story of the decades-long fight to ban grizzly bear trophy hunting in British Columbia. While a ban took effect in 2017, the future of grizzlies is still uncertain. Bans have been overturned in the past as the power in government shifted and in a time of shrinking salmon runs, climate change, industrial logging and pushback from hunting lobbyists now more than ever it is critical for people to come together again and fight for what is wild.
Uplifting the voices of First Nations leaders, biologists, bear guides, and conservationists, this film sheds light on the monumental, collective effort that goes into changing government policy. Viewers get an intimate look at the true nature of bears with breathtaking wildlife cinematography and honest stories from the people who have been changed by the privilege of getting to know bears first-hand.
Directed by: Natasha Wehn
Wildlife Cinematography by: @iantmcallister
Additional shooting by: @gamut_productions @carlo_alcos , Leslie Birch, Trevor Wong and Yuki Itoh from @thepodiumbrand
Editing by: @darrylwhetung and @danielryanjeffery
Assistant Editing: @larskisaac
Motion Graphics: @robohtman and Ryan MacKeen
Colour: Andrea Dixon @dixona888
Sound Design: @questcoast.studios and @davidpelvis
Special thanks to: @douglas_neasloss and Wayne McCrory and of course to @thevimff
#ConservationFilm #CanadianFilm #WildlifeFilm #PositiveNews #GrizzlyBears #Grizzlies #ConservationStories #Documentary
📣 Update on DFO`s harvest plan for Pacific herring
1️⃣ Strait of Georgia: Open for Roe (and Food and Bait, Special Use) fisheries, at a 14% harvest rate to a maximum of 12,787 tons
2️⃣ West Coast Vancouver Island: Closed to commercial gillnet and seine harvest, commercial Spawn on Kelp opportunities to First Nations
3️⃣ Central Coast: Open to Spawn on Kelp only at a 4.7% harvest rate to a maximum of 900 tons
4️⃣ Prince Rupert District: Open for Roe, Spawn on Kelp, and FSC at a 5% harvest rate to a maximum of 2,624 tons
5️⃣ Haida Gwaii: Closed to all commercial harvest
Quotas have been increased in all regions that remain open to harvest. In the face of climate change, biodiversity loss, and growing uncertainty in our oceans, it’s disheartening to see DFO continuing with a "business-as-usual" approach to herring management. Instead, fisheries managers should be embracing a precautionary approach to harvesting herring, a species that is the cornerstone of B.C.’s entire marine food web.
🌊 We commend nations on the West Coast of Vancouver Island for taking a stand for herring this year. By recommending to not allow gillnet and seine harvest in their territories, despite recent population increases, they are leading by example and showing what true stewardship looks like. Their decision reflects the need to protect herring populations for generations to come, ensuring the health of the ecosystems, cultures, and economies that rely on them.
Let’s hope DFO will take note and begin adopting management strategies that prioritize the long-term resilience of herring and the ecosystems they support.
👉 It’s time for all of us to advocate for precautionary management and challenge decisions that fail to reflect the realities of today’s environmental crises. Follow the link in our bio to read our blog about the IFMP release.
Support the call to protect Pacific herring, send a letter at the link in our bio.
#ProtectPacificHerring #BIGlittlefish #MarineConservation #MarineProtection
❗️The Green Party of Canada is condemning Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) for increasing the Pacific herring harvest rate from 10% to 14%, despite warnings from First Nations and scientists. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May called the decision “a complete failure of environmental stewardship,” emphasizing that “DFO is ignoring both the precautionary principle and the inherent rights of Indigenous communities.”
🐟 Herring are crucial to the marine food web, supporting species like Chinook salmon and the endangered Southern Resident Orcas. Green Party Fisheries Critic Dr. Gadfly Stratton warned, “The science is clear: continued overfishing of herring will have devastating ripple effects throughout the ecosystem.” The decision has drawn opposition from First Nations, environmental groups, and marine-dependent industries.
🗣️ “We are watching an ecological crisis unfold in real time, yet DFO, under the current Liberal government, refuses to act responsibly,” said Stratton. “Instead of protecting this keystone species, they are approving increased catch limits. This is beyond short-sighted, it is irresponsible governance.”
The Green Party is calling on Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier to reverse the decision and take immediate action to protect herring populations by implementing a managed pause in the fishery as advocated for by many scientists and hereditary chiefs in the Salish Sea.
Support the call to protect Pacific herring, send a letter at the link in our bio.
#ProtectPacificHerring #BIGlittlefish #Herring #SustainableFisheries
🚨 Wildlife killing contests are alive and well in Canada 🚨
Under the misleading guise of "wildlife management", killing contests are still happening across Canada— largely unregulated, unscientific, and unjustifiable. In Alberta, canids are caught in the crosshairs. A coyote killing contest just wrapped up this month. Organized by Storm Mountain Outfitters the event encouraged competing teams to kill as many coyotes as possible throughout a two day derby. The team that brought in the most pelts was awarded $2,500. There were also "special category" winners for the heaviest coyote and the one with the nicest and mangiest fur.
🐺 Happening right now, an ongoing wolf killing contest is running until the end of March. The Alberta Trappers Association and Alberta Professional Outfitters Society are offering a top prize of $5,000, $3,500 for second prize and $2,000 for third prize and a $250 bounty per wolf for the first 400 wolves killed.
The "justification"? Protecting ungulates like deer and elk (primarily for increased hunter access). But let’s be clear: there is no scientific basis for these contests. Science-based wildlife management involves habitat conservation, predator-prey dynamics, and ethical decision-making—not reckless slaughter.
These contests do not consider the intrinsic value and dignity of these animals, they do not control populations effectively, do not address the cause of livestock conflicts, and do not make ecosystems healthier. What they do is promote cruelty, disrupt ecosystems, and fuel anti-predator rhetoric.
📣 It’s time for Canada to ban wildlife killing contests once and for all. We need policy driven by science and ethics—not blood sport pandering to a very small minority. Speak up, raise awareness, and demand change. Follow the link in our bio to send a pre-written letter to government demanding for change.
#BanKillingContests #ScienceNotSlaughter #PredatorsMatter #WildlifeConservation #SaveBCWolves
✍️Two recent studies conducted in the Great Bear Rainforest investigating the impact of human-presence in salmon-bearing systems reveal contrasting impacts on grizzly bears, highlighting the complexity of human-wildlife interactions. 🐻
📙Short et al. (2024) found that human presence creates a "landscape of fear," leading to spatial and temporal avoidance in foraging areas among bears, with adult males being particularly sensitive to human activity. Bears displayed altered behaviour patterns, with their use of habitats varying based on the intensity of human activity and the availability of food resources, such as salmon. The study emphasizes that human presence can disrupt natural behaviours of foraging bears and recommends that multi-day closures and daily occupancy limits may be effective at mitigating impacts to bears.
📗Conversely, Field et al. (2025) determined that bears foraging in ecotourism zones were not more likely to encounter human conflict downstream. Researchers found no evidence that ecotourism predisposed bears to conflict. In fact, bears frequenting ecotourism zones were less likely to be involved in conflicts in near-by human occupied areas. This finding suggests that ecotourism does not significantly increase risky behaviour in bears, with conflicts instead linked to broader human-caused factors, such as unsecured food attractants in nearby communities.
🐻These studies highlight the that ecotourism does not inherently increase human-wildlife conflict for grizzly bears, but can still have an impact on foraging behaviour in salmon-systems. The research suggests that well-regulated ecotourism can coexist with conservation and coexistence. Maintaining safe distances, avoiding food-conditioning, and respecting natural behaviours, are examples of guidelines that foster tourism with a minimal impact on bears.
📸 by Ian McAllister
#GrizzlyBears #Wildlife #Ecotourism #BeautifulBritishColumbia #Bears #NewScience #GreatBearRainforest #Coexistence #WildlifeCoexistence #BearCoexistence
🐺 Wolves are back in the spotlight with several important recent news stories about the paradox of culling while cutting down caribou habitat and flying wolves from culling areas to Colorado:
1. B.C.’s Ongoing Wolf Cull – The wolf cull continues as the government targets predators in a controversial effort to protect caribou. To date, taxpayers have paid more than $11 million to kill 2,192 wolves, or about $5,000 a wolf. While the caribou population has increased, roughly 3.2 wolves have been killed either by government or private hunters for every one caribou added to the mix. Critics argue this approach neglects the real issue: industrial activities destroying caribou habitat. Explore the debate: Vancouver Sun
2. Feds Implicated in Ongoing Caribou Habitat Destruction – The wolf cull doesn`t address the destruction and fragmentation of caribou habitat, which is the driving force behind their decline according to Eddie Petryshen of Wildsight. Ecojustice lawyer Sean Nixon says Ottawa`s ongoing delays and inaction to protect habitat "amount to a tacit endorsement of the extermination of a species." Read more: Coast Mountain News
3. Province Implicated in Ongoing Caribou Habitat Destruction – "Between 2018 and 2024, the province approved eight cutblocks that overlap — by 37 hectares — with the no-harvest ungulate winter range protections" according to Wildsight and The Wilderness Committee. New research out of UBC confirms that deep snow caribou need specific lichen for survival which only grows on old growth trees. See the article on: Castanet
4. Wolf Transfer to Colorado – 15 grey wolves have been captured in British Columbia and transferred to Colorado. The six-day operation in B.C. this month involved the capture of seven male wolves and eight females from areas in the province’s central interior where “predator reduction” occurs. Get the full story: CTV Vancouver
5. Colorado’s Wolf Reintroduction – What does B.C.`s wolf cull and the Colorado reintroduction have in common? Read more about this delicate process: Aspen Daily News
#SaveBCWolves #Wolf #Wolves #CommEngageDay
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