Nelson’s Spirit Bear has been seen again.
Nearly a year ago, Doug Thorburn watched a local white Black Bear. He saw it again last week and wrote about both sightings: “I had grave doubts concerning his potential survival, given his scrawny appearance last year. He is still small, but appears to have a nice coat, and some extra weight.”
Spirit Bear (see also Black Bears)
• a Spirit Bear is a white Black Bear anywhere in the Province
• the white Black Bear (Spirit Bear) is protected from hunting
• kermode DOES NOT imply white; most kermode are black
• kermode DOES NOT mean Spirit Bear
The Spirit Bear is a Provincial symbol. It is merely the somewhat uncommon white colour phase of the ordinary Black Bear. Some propagandists would have you believe that such bears are only found on the North Coast and are synonymous with the word kermode. Such claims are nonsense.
The Spirit Bear is found throughout BC, and we have our own here in the mountains south of Nelson. I wish it well.
Doug saw Nelson’s Spirit Bear on two different occasion on the same day.
Pictures used with permission.
Interesting, my mother and some of her neighbors saw one of these at Fletcher Creek about fourteen years ago. Never seen again though.