OFFICIAL MAMMAL: SPIRIT BEAR

For years, the reclusive “spirit bear” was once thought to be a completely different species of bear.

Named after Francis Kermode, a curator at the Royal British Columbia Museum in the early 20th century, the first spirit bear to be held in captivity was in a small cage in Beacon Hill Park from 1924 to 1948.

In the Great Bear Rainforest, which is on B.C.’s central and north coasts and contains one quarter of the world’s remaining intact temperate rainforest, the black bears are collectively referred to as Kermode bears. About one in 10 of the bears has a distinctive white coat: They are known as white Kermodes or spirit bears. Parents and cubs may be different colours, depending on genetics.

“There’s something inspiring about seeing this white bear with the green forest in the background,” said Wayne McCrory, a bear biologist with Valhalla Wilderness Society. The bear, he said, symbolizes the diversity of life and creatures in the Great Bear Rainforest, similar to that of the Galapagos Islands.

The society is pressing the government to protect the bears by preserving their habitat.

McCrory worries about the impact of having the Enbridge pipeline built through the area, but the bears also face a threat from other animals.

Grizzly bears are making their way into the habitat of the Kermodes, killing black bears and stopping Kermode bears from hunting salmon.

The dwindling number of salmon along B.C.’s coast also threatens the bears’ food supply.

A University of Victoria researcher warns that if the bears are endangered, it could hurt the growing tourism trade set up to showcase the bears.

“The spirit bears are an economically important resource. To put it bluntly, they’re a part of the inventory for ecotourism businesses,” said Chris Darimont, a UVic professor who has spent two years studying the bears and their effect on ecotourism.

Both McCrory and Darimont said they hope the government considers more protection for the bears.

“It’s a symbol of evolution and, as stewards of this province, we should protect them,” McCrory said.

(Adopted: 2006)