Rare white bear returns to B.C. town

ELKFORD — A rare, white-coloured bear cub that has wandered back to a southeastern B.C. town to feast on the community’s garbage will not be euthanized, say conservation officers.

“We are looking at alternate solutions here ... perhaps a sanctuary placement or relocation,” Sgt. Joe Caravetta said Thursday.

Caravetta said a trap has been set for the cub, first spotted with its sibling, also white-coloured, near Elkford, about 65 kilometres north of Fernie, in 2011. At that time, officials relocated the bears because they posed a public safety risk.

Now, however, one of the cubs has returned.

“She’s been back now for about a week, week-and-a-half,” Duncan McDonald, Elkford’s public works director, said Thursday, “and she’s getting herself into trouble in the garbage again.”

“Because we haven’t had any bears yet this year, people have probably forgotten to keep their cans in garages or sheds to make it tougher for her to get at them,” he said.

The white-coloured fur of the black bear cub is linked to a recessive gene, Caravetta said, and is not a sign that the cub is linked to B.C.’s Kermode bear, also known as the “spirit bear,” which is associated with coastal areas such as Terrace and Prince Rupert.

“Once a black bear becomes a feeding-on-garbage bear, the chances of a successful relocation, as in this case and in other cases we’ve done in the past, are very slim,” Caravetta said, adding euthanizing the animals is the usual unpleasant task.

However, because of the cub’s unique colouring and community interest, Caravetta said conservation officials are taking extra steps to try to find her a home, either in B.C. through another relocation attempt or outside B.C. at a sanctuary.