Spotted on Texada Island.....

FLHTCUI

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
128   0   1
This tip came from another site and a small news reporting outfit.

https://www.prpeak.com/local-news/grizzly-bear-reported-to-be-on-texada-island-10720037

British Columbia Conservation Officer Service is asking the public to be aware of a grizzly bear that has moved onto Texada Island.

According to an email response from the conservation officer service, the bear moved onto the island on May 25 after being spotted in the qathet region for a week, prior to swimming to Texada. The bear was first seen in the Pocahontas Bay area and is an adult male with a yellow ear tag.

The conservation officer service states that Texada residents are asked to use bear aware strategies so the bear does not access human food and become habituated to local communities. Resources and safety tips can be found at wildsafebc.com.

All sightings of this grizzly bear should be reported to the conservation officer services’ report all poachers and polluters line at 1.877.952.7277. The conservation officer service has indicated that officers will respond as necessary to ensure safety.
 
Why report grizzly bear sightings within their natural and historical range?

Living in bear country means you can/will encounter bears.
The point is Texada Island/Vancouver Island etc. historically and naturally have never supported any mentionable Grizzly bear population. Only the massive Black Bear subspecies the "Vancouver Island Black Bear. "
 
Plenty o G bear on V Island.
Nice to have them around.

They have probably undergone periods of extirpation since the last ice age but there has never been any reason for them not to be here.
 
Thats like 7 or 8km swim isn't it?!
Depends where exactly it swam from/to, but that's likely about right. The island is under 5km off the mainland at it's closest point.
A Grizzly...hell, any bear at all...on Texada is incredible. Long term residents will tell you that they haven't even seen NA Black Bears on their island before. This is highly unusual. Super cool...
Yeah. My friend's family has had a place on Texada for almost 20 years now. He was shocked when we saw raccoons in 2023, the wildlife on that island is pretty darn limited.


Cool to see a Grizzly make the swim. Can't imagine there's much food for it though, the deer are small and the forest is thick. Hope it doesn't get destroyed for ####ing with people...
 
They could put him out and hawl’im back to the mainland iff’in he becomes a newsince.
Lettim eat a few Nancees, Karrins and a few Megans first so he won’t arf the notion to swim back.
Me thinks. 🦴
 
With the grizzly bear hunting ban in BC, grizzlies are swimming over to the islands looking for mates and range among other reasons. There's an ongoing debate as to whether there's a permanent/ breeding population in Vancouver Island. Certainly lots of space and salmon available here!
 
With the grizzly bear hunting ban in BC, grizzlies are swimming over to the islands looking for mates and range among other reasons. There's an ongoing debate as to whether there's a permanent/ breeding population in Vancouver Island. Certainly lots of space and salmon available here!

First ever grizzly bear sow and cubs spotted officially on Vancouver Island​

https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...pher-records-grizzly-bear-cubs-play-fighting/

‘Pretty cool to see’: Vancouver Island photographer records grizzly bear cubs play-fighting​

https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...pher-records-grizzly-bear-cubs-play-fighting/
 
I dunno.... "they" have said there was no established grizzly population on Vancouver Island my entire life yet for as long as I have fished Van isl rivers and west coast ocean.... I have heard stories from fishermen and first nations that makes me believe they have always been there. My friends that were the former owners of CeePeeCee Lodge as well as others around Tashis and Gold river, logging truck drivers, fallers, fishing guides and first nations contacts have all got stories of seeing grizzlies in that area. Salmon streams throughout the area , very remote and extremely rugged country between there and any sizeable populations/towns and very healthy herds of elk all over the region.
Why there has been a culture of denial around grizzlies enhabitting Vancouver Island is a wierd one to me.
We have a growing number of grizzlies here around our area too , I've seen them and signs of them on more than one occasion. A decade ago we had a sow and two grown "cubs" cross fields at the east end of Canim Lake, heading north up past firehall #2 and through the wood lot behind our property. Conservation service chartered a helicopter pilot in town to work those bears away from the residential properties and up the mountain towards Bobbs Lake. Even people around here I mention grizzlies too , mostly non hunters, are surprised and a little freaked out when they learn that they are around here and surprisingly close to town. (100 mile) A few more breeding cycles from now and I wouldn't be surprised to see one in my yard LOL Every other species of animal around here is back there..... 2 young bucks napping in the dandelions out there right now in fact LOL ...... grizzlies will be too eventually
 
Depends where exactly it swam from/to, but that's likely about right. The island is under 5km off the mainland at it's closest point.

Yeah. My friend's family has had a place on Texada for almost 20 years now. He was shocked when we saw raccoons in 2023, the wildlife on that island is pretty darn limited.


Cool to see a Grizzly make the swim. Can't imagine there's much food for it though, the deer are small and the forest is thick. Hope it doesn't get destroyed for ####ing with people...
Indeed.
My mum and dad had a house on Gabriola Island for many years. It's very close to Vancouver Island/Nanaimo, and they never saw a bear or heard of one in the their 'hood, although we know that they have been spotted on the island on rare occasions.
There are some prey-animals on Gabriola that the bears could go after, like the weirdly tiny black-tailed deer, but I guess they're not too tempting for the bears on the main island.
Fingers crossed he survives!
 
When I visited Texada years back and asked a resident if there were bears on the island, he said that bears, wolves, and cougars have avoided the island due to the fresh water having a naturally occurring arsenic. He added that the only predatory land animal that could tolerate the arsenic levels in the water was the raccoon.
 
Back
Top Bottom