It’s just the simple bear necessities of Boo’s love life
DAWN WALTON

From Saturday’s Globe and Mail

It was a commendable escape by any measure: Patiently wait until the staff calls it a day; dig a tunnel under a fence; then, make a dash for love.

But after 19 days on the lam, Boo, a four-and-a-half-year-old grizzly bear that made a bid for freedom after catching the whiff of a sow, is back behind his electric fence at a refuge in British Columbia.

“We’re all just very relieved that he’s back and he’s safe and that everybody’s safe,” said Michael Dalzell, a spokesman with Kicking Horse Mountain Resort near Golden, B.C.

“We were all very nervous that he would be confronted by a male grizzly out there and he’s not up to scruff with his fighting skills. Second was the concern for the public. This is not your average bear.”

Boo eluded resort staff, who spent 480 man-hours tracking him and another 50 hours using a helicopter, until Friday morning, when the bear was spotted six kilometres west of the refuge. A tranquillizer was shot from the air. Five or six minutes later, the bear was down and four people loaded him into a sling. He was air-lifted back to the resort, where by early afternoon, Boo was groggy but recovering in a 12-metre-by-12-metre outdoor enclosure.

Boo wound up at the resort, along with his brother Cari, after a hunter illegally shot and killed their mother in June, 2002, near the central B.C. community of Quesnel. Conservation officers spent a day trying to coax the frightened cubs down from a 15-metre tree. The cubs, named after the Cariboo region where they were born, found a temporary home in Vancouver at the Grouse Mountain Refuge for Endangered Wildlife. They were relocated in July, 2003, to the Kicking Horse resort, a three-hour drive west of Calgary.

The hunter was fined $9,000.

The bears had thrived at their nine-hectare enclosure, but in 2004, Cari didn’t emerge from their den after winter. Tests revealed that the animal died of a spontaneous twist in his small intestine, which has been known to happen to animals that eat large amounts of plants.

Boo has grown to 281 kilograms, has reached sexual maturity and this is mating season for grizzlies.

The resort, which provides on-line updates about Boo, noted that during the last week of May, he sniffed out his first piece of fish.

“His sense of smell never ceases to amaze us, and demonstrates a grizzly’s ability to smell food from kilometres away,” his caretakers said.

Some time between 5 p.m. on June 4, when his caretakers last saw him, and 8 a.m. on June 5, apparently the scent of love was also in the air.

Boo was gone when resort staff brought the bear breakfast. They found a hole under the three-metre-high fence. Police and provincial officials were notified. Within two hours, Boo was spotted from the air just south of the resort cavorting with a female grizzly.

The refuge has had its share of criticism.

“Do we have bona fide, competent, rehabilitation opportunities in Western Canada for orphan bears?” said Jim Pissot, executive director of Defenders of Wildlife Canada. “I think that [in] a program that is a part tourist attraction and part wildlife conservation one always has to wonder which is the larger share of the program.”

Some have suggested that the bear should have been neutered and the fence should have been dug deep into the ground.

Some others suggested that Boo should have been left in the wild.

“As much as the emotional side of me feels for him and wants him to enjoy freedom, it’s just too risky a proposition for people and for Boo,” said Tracey Henderson, program director of Alberta’s Grizzly Bear Alliance.

The resort and wildlife experts say life in captivity has made the bear too comfortable around humans. Boo also hasn’t learned to fend for himself in four seasons.

During his flight from captivity, Boo roamed around a 10-kilometre range and was spotted “doing regular grizzly bear things” including eating berries, playing in a creek and going to sleep, Mr. Dalzell said.

“He looks really good and he’s definitely not hungry,” he said earlier this week. “He’s enjoying himself out there, but he’s no longer with the female grizzly – the sow – he’s on his own.”(Grizzlies don’t mate for life.)

Boo had been seen hanging around the resort during the past few days. Officials set a live trap borrowed from provincial conservation officers, but Boo had mostly just sniffed around it.

Resort officials are looking at ways to prevent another romp into the wild, including neutering Boo. Veterinarians will examine the bear and the facility will be reassessed to ensure it is adequately equipped, Mr. Dalzell said.

Meanwhile, the refuge is closed indefinitely.
“We just want a bit of down time for everybody, including the bear,” Mr. Dalzell said.