UPDATE: Sad ending to local grizzly release
By Kyra Hoggan
Update:
Many local hearts were touched by the story of two grizzly cubs whose mom and sibling were shot and killed in the area, and were thus taken to a wildlife shelter for rehabilitation, then released near Castlegar with radio collars (see below).
The story of Blair and Terry (named after the Conservation Officer, or C.O., who helped save them and a shelter donour) does not, however, boast a happy ending, as the two were destroyed on Sept. 9 after continued conflict with human residents.
Conservation Officer Tobe Sprado says the Labour Day long weekend saw the duo still travelling together, one still sporting a radio collar, up along the Paulson Summit.
“On Tuesday night, they came into Brooklyn, a community with about six residences,” Sprado said, “where they killed chickens, ate fruit and caused problems.”
He said C.O.s attended Wednesday morning, speaking to the primary complainant as well as other residents, helping them clean up or manage bear attractants.
“They were more than happy to help, and got it all done,” Sprado said, adding the bears unfortunately came back into town on Thursday. A resident fired a gun into the air to scare them off, at which point they ran into the Arrow Lake.
“They ended up just north of Deer Park,” he said, adding the radio collar helped officials follow the bears’ route.
“Later that same afternoon, we got our first complaint from Deer Park. It’s a food-rich environment for the bears, with Kokanee in Deer Creek, fruit in the trees …”
He said the duo spent the entire weekend repeatedly visiting the town and harassing residents, and Conservation was forced to concluded the animals had imprinted on human habitation as a food source and thus could not be rehabilitated. The decision to euthanize the bears was made Monday morning.
“This was the third time the C.O. Service dealt with these bears, and all three occasions involved poultry – that implies a certain habituation,” he said, adding photos had also turned up from the Paulson, showing one of the bears in the flat bed of a truck eating garbage.
“There was a definite pattern.”
Sprado cautioned residents to be careful in managing their attractants – fruit in particular – even if there’s no evidence of bears around.
“That may not have helped in this case – they probably imprinted on poultry back when they were with their mom – but they aren’t the only bears in the area.”
Harvesting fruit and putting electric fencing around bird coops is critical, he said.
Sprado said they did consider adverse conditioning (scaring the bears and making human settlements less attractive to them), but felt it would have little effect in this situation.
To help with animal rehabilitation and pilot projects like the grizzly release, contact Northern Lights Wildlife Society at http://www.wildlifeshelter.com/
Previous story:
Photos by John Beecham – see below story:
A recent grizzly bear release about 40 kilometres out of Castlegar has all the hallmarks of a fabulous story – tragedy, triumph, kindness, grizzly violence … even a stint in rehab.
Local Conservation officer Blair Thin said it all started almost eight months ago, when a family of grizzlies (a mom and three cubs) kept trying to get into a poultry pen near Burton, just up the valley.
“We were successful in trapping and tranquilizing the whole family unit, and relocating them about 20 or 25 km away up a drainage, but within the same ecosystem, which gives them the best chance of survival,” Thin said. “But a week later, they showed up trying to get at chickens in Nakusp, where the farmer shot the sow and one of the cubs.”
He joked that the remaining two cubs had a poultry problem and had to go to rehab (adding, though, that grizzlies don’t imprint on food sources until after they’re about a year old, so habituation actually wasn’t a concern – Thin said there’s no cause to worry they’ll be released and, “beeline straight for the nearest KFC”.)
They were, however, too young to survive on their own, so Thin spent two days trapping the duo, one of which was particularly feisty – he ran even after being tranquilized, so Thin followed him, “a very long way” before catching him and having to carry the strapping youngster back to the truck.
Thin then sent the bruins to the Northern Lights Wildlife Society near Smithers, where operators Peter and Angelika Langden have spent the past 23 years rehabilitating everything from moose to grizzlies to lynxes and beyond.
Angelika said they named the feisty one Blair, in honour of Thin’s extraordinary efforts to save the little guy, and the other Terry, after a homebuilder from Salmon Arm who built a log cabin for the sanctuary to use as a grizzly den.
Angelika said the sanctuary is incredibly busy – aside from Blair and Terry, they had another grizzly and 29 black bears last season, and they’ve already got three baby moose this season.
At any rate, Blair and Terry were given their own space, and only interacted with one human ‘momma bear’ – in this case, Peter. Any other humans who interacted with the brothers purposely were threatening and scary, so as to prevent habituation.
“It’s the same scenario as in the wild – the mother is safe, but other bears aren’t, so they learn to stay away from all but her,” Angelika explained. “It’s easy to translate that instinct to humans.”
The two brothers got on well with each other – Angelika said bear siblings are like human siblings, in that some get along fabulously and others fight constantly – and so they spent the next seven months playing, growing, and developing to the point where they could survive in the wild.
It should be noted these two teddies lucked out – they’re part of a program being funded through the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), the province and Northern Lights to see if grizzlies can be successfully rehabilitated and released – they’re two of eight that have been released into their home ranges with radio collars to track their movements (the collars have connective straps that are designed to rot after about two years, so the collar falls off in two pieces – otherwise they could create health issues over time).
“(A grizzy’s) home range starts at about 30 to 40 square miles, but it can be 10 times that size by the time they’re six or seven – it all depends on the habitat quality,” said IFAW’s John Beecham, adding the Kootenays are abundant enough to ensure comparatively small territories for the grizzlies.
“The collars are set up to give us the bears’ location every hour, and (we’re seeing that) they’re using the habitat the same way wild bears do, which is excellent,” Beecham added.
Peter (aka Momma Bear) said you do become attached to the animals, but it was still wonderful to release them, last week, into their home territory.
“It’s a good feeling – they belong in the area where they are now,” he said. “It’s the whole goal.”
Angelika said bears are also like people when it comes time to head out on their own – each of them handles it differently.
“Some are reluctant – those two today (June 19) were out like bullets,” she said, adding the moment was more sweet than bitter when the two wandered off to explore their new home, an area chosen by provincial authorities about 40 km outside of Castlegar.
As for Thin, he said he still checks on his namkesake cubs and their whereabouts every now and again – and he absolutely will investigate anyone who shoots a grizzly to save a chicken or two.
“There are lots of programs, like Bear Aware, that help subsidize and even in some cases install electric fencing,” he said. “You don’t shoot a grizzly to protect a chicken. A grizzly eating chicken is not a direct menace to yours or your family’s safety.”
Northern Lights is funded entirely through grants, donations and volunteerism – but supporting their work just became a lot more exciting, as any donation of $25 or more gets you a tax receipt AND your name entered into a draw for either a) a weekend at the sanctuary or b) a day out in the field with celebrated wildlife photographer John Marriot.
Check out their Facebook page (and see a ton more fabulous photos) at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Northern-Lights-Wildlife-Society/237969809621081?fref=ts
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