Bear Matters BC

JJ2 makes an appearance in southeast Switzerland last year (Keystone)

Related stories Swiss authorities prepare ground for bears
Going on a Swiss bear hunt
A month after neighbouring Germany gunned down an errant bear, Bruno, the government has issued guidelines on how the animals can avoid a similar fate in Switzerland.

The “Bear Strategy”, published on Tuesday, maintains that bears and humans can co-exist peacefully but enables regional authorities to shoot-to-kill if public safety is threatened.

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Bear Friends,

Tomorrow (tues, july 25′06) you will be able to hear Brian Payton, author of the new book, Shadow of a Bear either live on CKNW 980am radio or www.cknw.com at 11:30am or on CBC Almanac (radio one) at 1pm or on http://www.cbc.ca/bcalmanac . Both stations have audio files that you can play after the programs are finished for the day.

Also Brian will be on Shaw Cable(Fanny Kiefer) Tues July 25 at 9am. 1pm & 4pm, I believe?

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Shelagh Plunkett, Special to the Sun
Published: Saturday, July 22, 2006
Brian Payton is curious, humble and self-effacing enough to make a good guide on a round-the-world bear-watching trip.

SHADOW OF THE BEAR

Travels in Vanishing Wilderness

BY BRIAN PAYTON

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By Sarah Young The Tri-City News
Jul 19 2006

The two bear cubs who are believed to have been orphaned almost two weeks ago were captured Tuesday afternoon but the investigation into what — or who — killed their mother continues.

The six-month-old cubs were spotted Sunday in a back yard on Coast Meridian Road but had moved along by the time conservation officers arrived. They were found in a tree in the same neighbourhood at about 2:30 p.m. yesterday.

Conservation officers immobilized the pair and took them to Critter Care, a wildlife facility in Langley.

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“A gripping story of a species at the crossroads of extinction… Compelling and absorbing, Shadow of the Bear is an in-depth and thoughtful look at a species that may just be tied to the future of humanity itself.” — Julie Kentner, The Winnipeg Free Press

The Winnipeg Free Press
Books, Sunday, July 16, 2006, p. b6

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15 Jul 2006
The WWF Polar Bear Tracker website is now ‘live’ again and following two new bears and their cubs on the Svalbard archipelago, between Norway and the North Pole.

For the last three years, WWF has followed polar bears on the arctic archipelago of Svalbard, between northern Norway and the North Pole. Their positions are beamed from collars on the bears’ necks, via satellite to scientists, and then to our website.

The bears were fitted with radio collars in April 2006 by Magnus Anderson and Jon Aars, polar bear researchers with the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI).

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Tri City News
Jul 14 2006

The Editor,

When is Port Coquitlam going to get off the pot and get some bylaws – with teeth – enacted to protect bears in this community?

Coquitlam started and seems to have stalled.

In 99% of the articles about this issue in local papers, the same things are repeated:

• secure your garbage;

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By Janis Warren The Tri-City News
Jul 12 2006

Coquitlam residents could face a $500 fine if their garbage attracts bears.

Under a proposed bylaw that will be debated at next Monday’s city council meeting, Coquitlam residents would be given only one warning to secure their garbage before the penalty is levied.

The first warning would come from a Bear Aware co-ordinator who has already visited the home and informed residents to protect their trash from the animals.

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Last Updated: Thursday, July 6, 2006 | 1:38 PM PT
CBC News
Boo the runaway grizzly bear, who has escaped twice from a wildlife refuge at the Kicking Horse Resort near Golden, could be spared a life in captivity if B.C.’s environment minister has his way.

Barry Penner says Boo should be left to roam freely in the mountains, but fitted with a global positioning system collar so the public could track his movements on the internet.

“This could help accomplish the goal of public safety, but also provide a scientific benefit to the ministry specialists that work in this area about where this bear will go in the wild,” said the minister.

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Jul 06 2006

Dan Ovsey – Reporter

The Town of Canmore finds itself with strange bedfellows after approving funding for a program that will increase the amount of aversive conditioning on provincial lands.

The initiative, arranged through Mayor Ron Casey, will see the town inject $12,310 into the manpower and dog power needed to prevent human-bear encounters in the dense woods surrounding the town site.

Casey said the idea had been proposed by Deputy Minister of Sustainable Resource Development (ASRD) Brad Pickering, who had suggested the Province would cover 60 per cent of the program’s total cost of $92,319, while the Town would cover the remaining 40 per cent.

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Project Peek-a-Boo could make bear a Net sensation
His return to the wild includes satellite tracking device

Michael Smyth, The Province
Published: Wednesday, July 05, 2006

He’s broken out of captivity twice. Now he just might break into stardom on the World Wide Web.

Boo the bear, the freedom-loving orphaned grizzly who has twice escaped his pen at a B.C. ski resort, could be left in the wild and become an online Internet attraction.

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July 05, 2006

Honourable Minister Barry Penner.
Room 112
Parliament Buildings
Victoria, BC
V8V 1X4

Dear Honourable Minister Penner,

Re: Peek-a-Boo Gov’t Proposal

Congratulations Minister for proposing a plan that would ensure Boo stay free for as long as possible, if not forever. Bravo! This ambitious plan would be the first of its kind involving a captive bear that is now living in the wild. There have been other cases involving escaped captive bears that have ‘gone wild’ but there has never been real monitoring of these bears.

The longer Boo could be tracked, the more we would learn about grizzly behaviour in the wild. By using a camera Boo’s encounters with all wild animals would be monitored and possibly even his long-term survival or demise? If there is a sad outcome, as with the eagle’s eggs on Hornby Island, Boo still would have lived wild for a time and we would have learned valuable information to help better conserve and co-exist with all bears in future.

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Jul 05 2006

A KERMODE seen dumpster diving and checking out compost heaps around Terrace Mountain was successfully captured by conservation officers June 29.

“Attractants left out almost cost a Kermode its life and that’s a tragedy,” said conservation officer Chris Price.

“That would’ve been a real shame to have had to destroy this bear because people are not taking care of attractants.”

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by jseyd@nsnews.com

EIGHT wildlife conservation groups are calling on the province to let a grizzly bear that has broken out of his wildlife refuge twice go free.

“I think Boo has told us what he needs and what he wants,” said North Vancouver’s Barbara Murray of Bear Matters B.C., one of the eight groups urging both Kicking Horse Resort and the conservation office to leave Boo, the bear escapee, in the wild.

“He needs a chance, however slight,” she said. “We say let him take a chance.”

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By Aaron Paton
Tuesday July 04, 2006

Banff Crag & Canyon — The first line of defence against grizzly bear attacks is armed with pamphlets, mini vans and electric Segways.

Parks Canada interpreters or “Bear Guardians” will patrol the roads and paths of Banff National Park this summer as part of a $2.4 million project to encourage visitors to respect and protect the environment.

For the past 10 years the non-profit Friends of Banff National Park provided a similar free service at roadside to wildlife spectators. Yet, Friends of Banff National Park executive director Leslie de Bie said Parks Canada’s Roadside Bear Guardian program is a welcome initiative.

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