Grizzly with checkered past swims miles to Canadian island – and into hot water | Environment

MVisitors to the Texada Island OST, a 30-mile lands tape off the west coast of British Columbia, choose one of the two main arrival methods: a provincial ferry service with 10 daily navigations or a 3000 feet air band that welcomes the occasional charter aircraft.

But a four -year -old grizzlyman recently took a much more difficult route, braving high currents and freezing water to swim nearly three miles through the Malaspina Strait.

The young bear exhausted, named “Tex” by the inhabitants, was transported to the ground on May 25, triggering a fierce dispute between residents, conservation officers and First Nations on his future – and provoking a broader debate on the relationship between the Canadian province and his fauna.

Once a hub of forest farm and mining, Texada island now houses 1,200 residents and the One Grizzly Bear, which was spotted for the last time just after sunset on June 23.

Before his odyssey, the four -year -old bear was known to conservation agents on the continent, who had been forced twice to move him to avoid conflicts with human residents. On occasion, he returned to urban areas in a few weeks.

Before swimming, he was seen in the fishing boats in Marinas to access Bait and once tracked up two walkers on a path.

“People escaped by entering and staying in the water for half an hour while the bear remained on the shore that turns back and forth,” said the conservation service.

Despite his former, somewhat checkered provincial officials said in a statement that there was no “killing order” in Tex. But, they have added: “If other behaviors from the Grizzly bear occur which threatens public security, conservation agents will respond to these situations … We hope it will not happen to this, and the bear will evolve independently.”

Nicholas Scapillati, head of the Grizzly Bear Foundation, said that such behavior should expect a young male man.

“He is in motion. He is curious. He is a young man out of hibernation who has probably been pushed out of his vital field by his mother and is now looking for friends in another genetic swimming pool,” said Scapillati. “Now he just explores.”

But the presence of Tex on the island has strongly divided residents, not used to apex predators on their bucolic island.

“They should euthanize him if they do not move him – he cannot stay here, someone will injure himself / killed,” wrote a resident on a local Facebook message babbleman. “It is only a matter of time before something horrible happens. It is shocking that some people think that this is not a serious public security problem.”

But others argue that the young bruin did not harm humans or livestock. Katrin Glenn-Bittner, a long-standing resident of the island who spotted the bear twice on his farm, proposed to help finance any relocation of the bear in a distant part of the west coast of the province. “There is no future here for him on Texada Island, because it is targeted, and if it makes a mistake – which could very well happen – it will be instantly destroyed,” she told Globe and Mail.

An First Nations community has proposed to cover the bear, but the request was rejected by the province’s conservation service, which said that the “high level of history of conflicts” means that he is “not a candidate for relocation”.

The first nation of Mamalilikulla claims that its protected and preserved area Aboriginal Gwaxdlala / Nalaxdlala (IPCA) in Knight Inlet, 100 miles north of the island of Texada, would be the ideal house for the young bear.

The IPCA was created in 2022 “on the basis of the old concept of” Aweenak’ola “, which is reflected by` `We are one with the land, the sea and the sky and the supernaturals and has the responsibility of taking care of all beings ”” and bringing the grizzly ones on the territory also aligns with the wider goal of the country to restore the populations of a species.

“Right now, this Bear Grizzly is a time bomb,” said John Powell, Chief of the First Nation of Mamalilikulla, Times Colonist. “I think the bear will inevitably meet a human or an animal and that it will have a negative commitment. Texada is not a big place … it will die there. “

In 2019, British Columbia promulgated legislation intended to harmonize its laws with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Aboriginal peoples, and signed a series of treaties or reconciliation agreements with the nations of the province. The case of Tex represents a test of this new relationship, explains Scapillati, whose foundation worked with the First Nations and the province.

In 2020, a male grizzly girl named Gatu appeared on the northern tip of the island of Vancouver and became too comfortable with humans. First Nations begged conservation agents to offer a proactive approach. Their request was ignored and the bear was shot. Months later, when another bear was spotted in the region, the first nation of Mamalilikulla intervened and asked that it be moved. The young Grizzly was successfully translocated in an area on the continent. At the time, the province’s Minister of the Environment praised the result, saying that the “desire for reconciliation” with indigenous peoples helped guide the process.

“If First Nations want to see how to manage these problems differently, the province has the obligation to speak to them and find a solution,” said Scapillati. “This request for translocation from Tex will open a whole discussion on how to balance the wildlife policies of various First Nations with the province’s wildlife policies,” he said. “It’s unique, it’s exciting – and it could change the game for wildlife management in the province.”

Biologists are convinced that the bear can be moved safely.

“After having carried out field surveys on the Grizzli housing surveys in IPCA for Mamalilikulla, I can attest to the fact that the estuary is a main habitat for such a translocation for the moment,” wrote Biologist Wayne McCrory in a letter to the province. “Even given the possibility that the bear does not stay in the region if it is translocated again, I fully support … [the Mamalilikulla First Nation’’s] Wish the bear to be taken there.

MCCRORY said that although translocation does not always work, the more a bear is moved from the place where it was captured, the best chances of success.

“I feel [not moving the bear] is a bad mistake that will only lead to the possible disappearance of the bear, be [at the hands of conservation officers] or some local residents.

And although it has shaken the residents, the arrival of the bear on the island also reflects a slow success of the conservation. Over the past decades, grizzly populations have radically rebounded thanks to a hunting ban and investment in stewardship.

“Texada must prepare. When you live in the wild, the bears are part of it. It will be an alarm clock for the community and all the other islands on the coast,” said Scapillati. “After years of work to recover the populations, the bears are in motion. And people have to prepare to coexist with them. “