Rare spirit bear cub living near B.C. highway stirs excitement, concern, as word of its existence spreads

Andrew Kurjata · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 14, 2025 9:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

Shelley Lindaas has agelong dreamed of seeing a Kermode carnivore cub successful person.

An amateur wildlife lensman based successful Terrace, near B.C.'s northbound coast, she spends overmuch of her escaped clip hiking the backwoods and camped retired with camera instrumentality successful 1 spot for hours astatine a time, waiting to drawback a glimpse.

But her extremity of seeing the rare, light-furred variant of a achromatic carnivore came astir accidentally this twelvemonth arsenic she was driving on the road and spotted the cub, with its family, conscionable disconnected the road.

"They were sitting close connected the highway," Lindaas said. "I get unusually excited erstwhile I spot immoderate wildlife ... but I was disconnected the charts excited."

Kermodes, besides known arsenic tone bears, are a subset of achromatic bears that unrecorded successful B.C.'s North and Central Coast regions. Their unsocial colouring occurs owed to a recessive cistron passed connected done achromatic bears. The authoritative carnal of British Columbia, a recent survey estimated their colonisation to beryllium fewer than 500, making them 1 of the rarest carnivore sightings successful the world.

For generations, First Nations limited accusation astir the bears retired of interest they would beryllium targeted for hunting and trapping, but successful much caller years immoderate groups person taken to highlighting their beingness arsenic a mode of raising wider consciousness astir the request for ecosystem absorption connected B.C.'s coast.

And that debate, astir however champion to grip it erstwhile an carnal galore imagination of seeing is discovered, is playing retired successful miniature successful Terrace wherever galore are celebrating sightings of the cub portion others interest posting photos and video of it volition enactment the carnal astatine hazard by drafting excessively galore radical to the region.

Concerns implicit habituation

Lindaas, who grew up successful the northwest and whose begetter was a huntsman and trapper, didn't spot her archetypal Kermode until 2023, aft years of exploration successful the region. Since then, she's managed to way a fewer bears and papers them done her Instagram relationship and a calendar she sells locally.

But, she said, she doesn't mostly stock her photos until aft she's assured the bears have moved distant from the country she spotted them in.

"I ever hold until August earlier I station pictures, and I get bombarded by different wildlife photographers astir wherever I took them," she said.

"If I person friends successful the area, I'll archer them, but I effort to support it quiet."

She made an exception in posting the photograph of the cub due to the fact that determination had already been truthful galore different sightings and posts connected societal media that it seemed "everyone knew."

Indeed, a hunt done section Facebook groups reveals aggregate photos and videos of the bear, on with its parent and 2 achromatic carnivore siblings.

Along with those posts are comments from locals disquieted astir excessively galore radical getting excessively adjacent to the bear, a concern that has been amplified by the conservation serviceman service, which enactment retired a connection urging radical to springiness the bears abstraction and not bash thing — such as feeding — that might acclimatize them to quality contact.

"It's earthy for radical to beryllium funny if they spot a achromatic carnivore connected the broadside of the road, I understand," said Sgt. Micah Kneller of the Terrace conservation serviceman service. "We conscionable promote radical that if they spot the bear, oregon bears successful wide ... they determination connected reasonably quickly."

He said immoderate of the astir concerning behaviour would beryllium rolling down windows to marque sound to effort and get the bear's attention, arsenic good arsenic thing that mightiness lure them toward the road oregon different people.

He said portion there'd been nary reports of radical feeding the bears yet, helium worries it will become a greater hazard arsenic much tourists little acquainted with wildlife behaviour came to the portion implicit the summer.

"Inevitably some traveler ends up throwing nutrient toward some of these bears truthful they tin get a amended representation of them," helium said.

Even without the food, helium said, predominant conveyance stops would get the bears utilized to traffic, starring to a greater likelihood to them getting deed or, successful a "worst-case scenario," crawling onto vehicles, forcing them to beryllium killed by the conservation serviceman service.

Hundreds of achromatic bears killed annually

Provincial statistics show hundreds of achromatic bears are destroyed each twelvemonth arsenic they are deemed a hazard to humans, with much than 8,000 implicit a 14-year span from 2011 to 2024. Statistics are not kept specifically for Kermodes, but hunting the uncommon achromatic bears is illegal, with penalties of up to $100,000 and/or 1 twelvemonth successful prison.

Lindaas said it is important for members of the nationalist to recognize that though the photos she takes look similar she's up adjacent and idiosyncratic with the bears, she uses specialized instrumentality that lets her zoom successful and heighten images from large distances.

"It's a heavy, dense edit," she said. "It's truly frustrating erstwhile you're giving them a respectful region but past radical propulsion up, like, 2 feet from it with their iPhone and they're leaning retired the window, stressing the carnal out."

She encouraged radical to get acquainted with carnal behaviour and travel the proposal of wildlife officials to enactment acold distant erstwhile encountering immoderate chaotic animals.

"You're enjoying the animals [when you get up close] but what you don't realizing is you're present causing them to possibly dice due to the fact that you're grooming them to get utilized to people."