BEAR EVENTS IN BELLA COOLA VALLEY DURING 2014
BY
RYAN PARR AND CHRISTINA HOPPE
BEAR ATTACK, ENCOUNTERS, AND SIGHTINGS IN BELLA COOLA VALLEY DURING 2014
This information was recorded directly from written statements and Facebook postings by concerned
citizens. The following incidents represent approximately half of the total bear events in 2014.
Information collected and assembled by Ryan Parr and then typed by Christina Hoppe.
Mid-June until the end of July 2014.
Thorsen Creek area during different nights: 3 different boar grizzlies as well as a 4-year-old male, a sow
with 3 cubs, and a sow with 2 cubs in a resident’s back yard causing a disturbance. Use of bear bangers
kept them at bay. Comments were: potential for future problems.
Mid-June until December
Events witnessed at one home west of Hagensborg on Highway 20. Residents of this house counted 24
different bears in their yard from June to December. Only 2 were black bears, the rest were grizzlies.
They were not getting into any livestock areas, but were very bold and coming close to the house.
Livestock and garden areas are fenced. The one and only fruit tree was enclosed with an electric fence.
The home owners shot into the air towards many of the bears with a 20 gauge shotgun. Most bears did
not run from noise. 4 became aggressive; huffing, snapping teeth, posturing to charge and finally bluff
charging. One large male grizzly had an injury and the home owner chased him off on foot. Amongst
the 24 were 3 sows with 2 cubs each and 1 sow with 3 cubs. These bears often returned twice a day
every day from 5:30pm until late at night. There was one sow that bedded down for several weeks in
the yard, and the cubs could be heard playing at night. This resident family could not go out in the yard
for several months without being armed. The bears were in the driveway and all around the house. The
electric fence was taken apart by a grizzly and the apple tree damaged twice. Many tourists and locals
viewed these bears on the east end of the property each night. This residence lost a hanging deer to a
grizzly sow and 2 cubs on November 24th at 2am. Fresh tracks on Dec. 3/14 of a large grizzly.
Comments were: these bears are not afraid of people.
Early August
A 2-year-old grizzly wandered into a resident’s yard near Airport Road west in the daytime. He was
digging in the compost bin. When caught he jumped out and trotted away.
Mid-September
A healthy grizzly crossed through a resident’s yard west of airport. The bear saw the home owner and
seemed to be in no hurry to run away. The bear just continued walking unafraid towards the home
owner.
September 26th
The town site of Bella Coola is full of bears every day and every night. There are 4 hanging around by
the song house, and 3 or 4 hanging around the streets and alleyways. Some are bedding down under
porches and in grassy yards. Residents are posting warnings, and beware of bears on Facebook every
1
day. Residents are cutting their fish and strapping lids onto the fish tubs. Bears are biting the tubs.
Residents are parking their cars and trucks around smokehouses while the fish are curing; the bears are
jumping up onto the vehicles. The police are driving around shooting bears with rubber bullets, and
residents are chasing them with pickup trucks and bear bangers, only to have them return within a half
hour. We know of 2 bears shot on the town site. One was trying to break in to a smokehouse and the
other one was fleeing across the river.
Late September
A sow and 2 cubs were seen in Smith subdivision area running onto the highway and almost getting
struck by traffic.
Late September
Just off the highway west of the Bella Coola town site, a visiting doctor on a bicycle was chased by a
sow and when he came to a log across the old road, he only had time to jump off and crouch against
the log. He used his bicycle as a shield with the bear trying to bite and swat him. Fortunately for him,
the cubs did not come with the sow, and the attack ended as she ran back to check on her offspring.
He was very afraid for his life. Comments: this took place very close to the elementary school.
In the morning around 8:45am, a large boar grizzly walked right past Acwsalcta School in the Four-Mile
Reserve subdivision towards the daycare center. At the same time, a sow with a cub was at a school bus
stop less than a mile away. Many residents are worried about the safety of the children while walking to
school or waiting for the bus.
Late September
On the highway west of Snootli Creek at 10:30pm, a large grizzly ran into the side of the pickup truck.
The bear damaged the passenger side of the pickup and then went under and almost caused a rollover.
The damage was estimated at $6,000.00
SAMSS High School SD49: during the daytime, a huge grizzly came running out onto the school yard.
Comments: heads up for the students, recommend a bear safety course.
Early October
October 2nd on the south side of Thorsen Creek: a grizzly sow and 2 cubs were in this resident’s yard.
As he pulled into his driveway, he realized he had separated the mom and cubs. He drove slowly to
resolve the situation; the sow ran at his car putting a dent in the door. Comments are: the resident
realizes she was protecting her young but is worried about the overall population of grizzlies this year.
October 2nd
Nusatsum Road south: a very large grizzly ate many chickens during the day time. The electric fence
was only off while the children were doing the chores. The bear knew this and came back twice in a half
hour. Comments are: the resident’s neighbor also lost her chickens to a bear recently.
October 3rd
Olsen Road: residents saw a very large grizzly during the daytime. This may have been the biggest bear
this resident has ever seen. Comments are: I hope he moves along soon.
2
October 4th
Just east of Grant Road a grizzly entered a fenced and locked chicken coop and ate all the turkeys and
chickens, then came back 2 days later at night and was in the back of resident’s pickup truck. This
resident is out of pocket a fair bit.
October 5th
During the day by the Interfor Logging yard in Hagensborg: a very large grizzly walked out to the road.
Comment: this bear seems to be the dominant one in this area.
During the night at Thorsen Creek area: a grizzly on the highway—the driver chased the bear down the
road with his vehicle.
October 6th
Around noon at the Interfor yard in Hagensborg: a lady was walking home at lunch and came face-toface with a grizzly. It started to walk towards her. If it had charged it would have been on top of her. A
passing car stopped and picked her up. She was very shook up. Comments were: concern for the
students walking to school.
October 7th
Approx. 6 miles from the Bella Coola town site along the highway at night time, a healthy grizzly bear
tore through a garden fence to eat resident’s garden. While resident was fixing the fence, the bear
came back and tore away another section of the fence. Comments are: despite an electric fence and a
vertical wooden fence the bear came through quite easily.
During the daytime across from Interfor Logging yard in Hagensborg: a medium to large reddish grizzly
bear was eating the resident’s crab apples. This bear is seen very regularly there. Comments are: home
owner finally put up an electric fence, and residents wonder where the bear has moved on to.
Oct 8th
Grant Road at night time: sow grizzly and 2 cubs entered chicken coop by tearing off a sliding glass
window. The bears killed 7 chickens and fatally wounded 2 others. The rest of the hens stopped laying
and refuse to go back in the coop.
October 9th
Allison Road: a boar grizzly ripped off the front of resident’s garbage bin and ate the garbage.
Comments: are wondering how far they are willing to go to get food.
October 11th
Early a.m.: sow and cub passed through on Government Road.
October 12th
Daytime on Douglas Drive: grizzly sow with 1 cub passed through our yard with the dog barking loudly.
The bear unaffected by the dog kept sauntering by. The Conservation Officers followed the bears and
the resident heard 2 shots. Comments are: feel more secure knowing the CO’s are in town.
3
October 12th
Four-Mile subdivision: a sow and 1 cub at night went into a smokehouse and took one of two hanging
deer, then came back the next night but were unsuccessful. Comments were of safety concern.
October 15th
Tonquin Road: during the night has put out warnings of a boar grizzly wandering in a very populated
area.
October 15th
2 miles east of Hagensborg during the day as well as at night: 1 boar and 1 sow with 2 cubs have been
hanging around; posturing and trying to prevent home owner from going to check on the chickens.
These bears hang around this residence until past November 20th.
Mid-October
West of Grant Road at night: there was a young grizzly trying to eat the chickens. This bear made efforts
to climb 3 fences to get the birds. COs were called, and Fraser Koroluk came and set a trap. Bear was
caught and later disposed of. Comments are: this farmer is tired of losing his livestock.
October 22nd
At Canoe Crossing during the night time: a sow and cub won’t leave resident’s yard. Conservation
Officers were shooting rubber bullets at her and she did not leave. Comments are: move along bear I do
not like you looking in my windows.
October 24th
A sow and 2 cubs walking during the day across front lawn. Comments are: contacted Wildsafe BC.
October 27th
At the Sinclair House around 5:30pm: a sow and a cub in a nearby creek.
October 31st
A public notice was put out by a town site business to trick or treaters for Halloween. A bear is still
bedding down near Burke Ave in town. We want to keep children safe, so make noise and stay in groups
when walking the streets downtown.
November 5th
At night time: a single healthy grizzly was struck on Highway 20, one mile east of Hagensborg. This bear
had been seen in that area before. The bear was hit with enough force to damage the whole side of the
car.
CONCLUSION by Christina Hoppe
A Community under siege
Last year in 2013, I was bluffed charged once on the dyke of a fish bearing stream, and my husband was
charged twice. Then my son was violently treed and held there for an hour while I loaded the gun and
4
went to get him. The carpenter working on our house was mauled by a sow grizzly while hitch-hiking to
our house.
This year was unbelievable! We started seeing grizzlies in our yard by the beginning of July. There
weren’t any fish in the creek then, which puzzled us. We stopped using our back yard, and let the
neighbors know what was happening. The silent bears scared me the most. They seemed to pop up out
of nowhere. We had injured bears, small males and very large males, as well 4 different sows with 2 or
3 cubs each in our yard twice a day for months. Our yard is 2 miles from the school, and we have
neighbors on all sides.
Hagensborg has a large number of people who usually walk the highway for health reasons—but not
this year. There were many reports of grizzlies near bus stops, so parents drove their kids to the school
bus. The schools had grizzly bears running out of the driveways during school hours. The teachers were
patrolling the grounds with cars for safety.
Right in the town site of Bella Coola was no better! On the east end of town residents were reporting
bears bedding down under porches and in alleyways and all around the recreational hall. 75% of people
living in town do not have a vehicle. They are on foot. We have a very elderly lady in a motorized
wheelchair next to my office. When she wanted to go to the bank or Co-op, a vehicle would have to
clear the way for her. Pickup trucks were often speeding around town chasing bears. The RCMP were
shooting at bears with rubber bullets, but the bears never left town. Smokehouses were broken into
and many hanging deer were taken. My very good friend has a son that refused to give up going to the
hall to play basketball because of the bears. He sneaked out the back door and there was a bear right
there so he climbed up on the smoke house and yelled. The bear left, but this scared and traumatized
this family.
My clients at my pregnancy outreach drop in office receive a $15.00 food voucher each week. 90% of
my clients are on foot. We had 2 big boar grizzlies bedding down on either side of my office. My clients
could not access my office very often this summer as it was not safe for anyone to walk in and around
the town site.
Bella Coola Valley residents had one heck of a bear season! If all of the cubs that were seen this year
survive, our conflicts may double next year. We need our Valley back. The blind lady who walks to get
her groceries needs to be able to do that safely. My clients need to be able to come to my office for
their food vouchers safely. The lady with seizures needs to be able to go on her walks without hearing
car horns blaring. The children need to be able to run around and play without being escorted by
people with rifles. And finally, all the rest of us who have high blood pressure from having to pack rifles
and keep people safe need a chance to relax.
Respectfully, Christina Hoppe
I ask the reader to consider the following: During the time that these events took place, the local
preservationists demanded that no bears be killed for any reason, that our local newspaper did not
report on these events even though they were the biggest story to ever hit Bella Coola, and that the
B.C. provincial government has not even acknowledged that there is a bear problem in our Valley.
Gary Shelton
5
HUMAN/BEAR CONFLICT
IN
THE BELLA COOLA VALLEY
BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
By
James Gary Shelton
Researcher, Safety Trainer, Writer
January 1st 2015
bearattacksurvival.com
HUMAN/BEAR CONFLICT
INTRODUCTION
While travelling back from our annual fall trip to the Southwest States in October of 2014, I received an
email from Ryan Parr that explained what was taking place in Bella Coola while we were gone. Ryan was
one of the people who had initiated a Facebook page for people who wanted to post information
regarding the human/bear conflict taking place in the Bella Coola Valley. An ugly debate has been
simmering for years between the majority of old-time residents and a small but extremely vocal group
of bear preservationists. The majority wants the bear population, especially grizzly bears, reduced so
that the property damage and the danger to people can be alleviated. They are also tired of websites
and newspaper articles that liken them to Neanderthal’s living a primitive lifestyle that is destructive to
nature. The preservationists believe that no bears should be killed, and if people would just remove all
unnatural attractants, they could live in harmony with bears.
The most important understanding I have gained over the years regarding human/bear conflict
is this:
Humans are predatory omnivores, and bears are omnivoristic predators. We arrived at our
similar evolutionary status from opposite directions. Unfortunately, our survival
requirements overlap too much for us to live side-by-side. Let’s take a look at the evidence for
this fundamental principle.
I was only home an hour when I received a call from a secretary at the high school wanting to know
what date I had picked in the following week for the student bear safety course. I explained that I didn’t
know anything about it. She said she thought that I had already been contacted with a request to set up
a course. I told her I would think about it and see what I could come up with. Shortly thereafter I called
Ryan Parr to see what was going on. He explained the horrific nature of problems going on and said the
Nuxalk People were limiting themselves in outdoor activities and that two large grizzlies had been killed
near the Reserve. They were also having day-active cougars walking around in the Lower part of the
Valley. He further stated that the Belco Bear Bulletin Facebook group wanted me to put on a Bear
Encounter Survival Course for their members and that they could get about 50 people lined up for it.
There was significant confusion about what was going on, and people wanted an explanation for why
the bears in Tweedsmuir Park seem so nice and tame while at the same time bears in the Lower Valley
were aggressive and dangerous. We decided to combine the Student Course with the Belco Bear Group.
I hadn’t conducted a bear course for over ten years and was apprehensive about the research and
outline development needed for a specialised Bella Coola course. I called Ryan back and suggested that
we set the course for November 1st. That would give me the time needed to get everything ready,
including two graphs I had never used before. One showing the population of grizzly bears in the Valley
over the last 150 years, and another showing the three distinct conflict zones in the Valley. No one
knew about the information on these graphs except me. These visual aids would make all of the
complex concepts understandable. During the next three weeks as I worked my way through old
1
research files and the newer papers I had written since the publication of my last book, a linear outline
putting all the bits and pieces together started to form. By the time it was completed I felt good about
what I had created. I knew I could provide a unique course that would answer all of the questions about
what was taking place in Bella Coola, and whether I liked it or not, I was once again drawn into the battle
over how to manage bear populations in B.C.
TERMS OF REFERENCE
I have written this in a way that the reader can get a feel for the conflict taking place between humans
and bears, and also between different factions of people. I am going to introduce a concept for
reducing human/bear conflict at the end of this paper that will have the bear preservationists hopping
mad—so I must present all necessary evidence for this new idea so it can withstand the coming assault.
However, in order to keep this paper at an acceptable length and to maintain a continuity of concepts
that support the conclusion, I have placed the Six Bear Attacks section at the end. Be sure to read it.
I have also added some information to this material that wasn’t presented in the course because of time
constraints. The Bear Behavior section is a condensed version of what is in my first book Bear Encounter
Survival Guide and the Student Handbook. I have only included the morning session of the bear course
that contains new information.
In this paper I am going to use the term Indian People instead of Aboriginals or First Nations, as well as
the term White Community, because the older generation in our dual culture, which I am part of, still
use these terms today. I may be a dinosaur when it comes to political correctness, but my terms are not
intended as disrespect for the Indian People, and my Nuxalk friends know that.
The B.C. Government uses the term ‘nonnatural’ attractant; I prefer using ‘unnatural’ attractant.
Several weeks before the course, I had talked with Sergeant Len Butler of the Williams Lake
Conservation Officer Service. Len said that he had wanted to attend the course but had to do training
for new recruits in Alberta. He had information he wanted to provide to the group and had asked RCMP
Member Mark Vanwieringen of the Bella Coola Detachment to present the material on his behalf. The
RCMP was also interested in this course because they had been pulled into all of the conflict between
people and bears and also between people and people. There hasn’t been a Conservation Officer in
Bella Coola for six years, so the Police had to stand-in and deal with bears when necessary, and the bear
protectors were constantly calling the RCMP whenever they heard gunshots and asking them to
investigate.
Also, Ryan Parr had called about a week before the course and said that people from the general public
wanted to attend, including two of the local bear preservationists. I told him to go ahead and sell tickets
to anyone wanting to attend. Ryan said that he and Christina Hoppe (the other person who had helped
him initiate the course) were concerned that the two bear preservationists would try to interrupt my
presentation. I told him that I would handle it.
What you are about to read has resulted from a life-long research project regarding bears.
2
BELLA COOLA BEAR ENCOUNTER SURVIVAL COURSE on November 1st 2014
I arrived at Lobelco Hall more than an hour before the course would start. After sorting out chairs and
tables, I brought in the large amount of display items I planned to use. Before long, several people
showed up and made the entrance ready for receiving tickets from participants.
About 20 minutes before the course was to begin one of my helpers told me that one of the bear
huggers was dancing around the Fall Fair building with a bear suit on, and the other was filming him. I
decided to nip this in the bud and went out to confront them. A shouting match then ensued where I
repeatedly yelled, “No one is wearing that suit inside the building.” My approach worked, and they later
came in and sat down quietly and separately. These people want all of the freedom in the world to
present their case but will intimidate, harass, and disrupt other people’s right to free speech whenever
possible. I knew that they would try to dazzle the crowd with brilliant questions that I couldn’t answer,
but they didn’t really understand how prepared I was for their shenanigans.
Shortly after nine-o-clock I asked everyone to sit down so we could begin. I then stated, “We have
several people here today that will hate everything I say this morning. But this is not going to be a
debate; this is a human safety course. If anyone tries to disrupt my presentation, they will be escorted
from the building. I am appointing Ryan Parr and Chuck Hoppe to act as Sergeants-At-Arms to remove
anyone necessary.” I then asked the RCMP Constable to present the information that Sergeant Len
Butler had sent down. Mark’s information was great to hear: “People have the right to kill bears near
their homes in defense of life and property. They must report the event, and when the C.O. Service
investigates the kill, there will be no further action if the property is free of garbage and unnecessary
attractants. The two attractants that need to have electric fences around them are chicken coops and
orchards.” This was the clarification that was needed for the people attending the course because of
the continuous mis-information put out by the preservationists and because of their constant calls to
the RCMP about gunshots. Mark also cautioned people to be careful when shooting and to know the
background area around their property, particularly other houses. He acknowledged that locals in this
area are well trained in firearm use and have the right to protect their families and property.
I thanked Mark and went on to explain that the morning session would be about Bear Evolutionary
History, Genetically Based Bear Behaviour, Human Influenced Modified Behaviour, Bear Populations and
Valley Conflict, and the Politics of Managing Bear Populations. The last topic regarding how bears are
being managed by the provincial government is by far the most important information concerning
human safety in relation to bears. I began the course material.
BEAR BEHAVIOUR
Bear behaviour is complex because of their evolutionary history. Grizzly bears and black bears evolved
from a common ancestor about three-and-a-half million years ago. This proto-bear ancestor was a true
predator that survived by killing and eating other animals. After becoming separate species, both slowly
changed to become omnivores that primarily depend on plant foods; but both are still opportunistic
predators.
3
Grizzlies evolved as a sub-arctic bear living in taiga and open tundra. They became a digging bear with
specialised claws and shoulder-hump muscles for accessing roots and tubers for complementing their
above-ground diet. Grizzlies are very efficient at digging up marmots and arctic ground squirrels.
Black bears became forest bears early in their development. They have sharp, hooked claws and climb
trees for defense. They eat the same types of foods as grizzlies, with the exception of under-ground
foods that require significant digging. In some areas, both species can be quite predatory—killing and
eating a wide variety of animals.
Grizzlies and black bears both originated in Europe, not North America. Black bears came to this
continent a long time ago, but the migration of grizzlies is complex and recent. They first migrated to
Alaska about 100,000 years ago, at the beginning of the last ice-age, then south into Alberta and other
areas about 10,000 years ago at the end of the ice-age.
Hibernation in bears evolved in order to temporarily suspend the need for the types of plants they can
digest, which only grow in spring, summer and fall. However, in more southern areas where climates
are mild or if food resources are available all winter, they do not have to hibernate.
Grizzly bears evolved for a lengthy period in open habitat with many large mega-fauna predators that
honed their defensive-aggression razor sharp. They usually make a quick decision during an encounter
regarding their fight or flight response. Because grizzly cubs do not usually climb trees for defense, and
sows can be very aggressive towards a perceived threat and will sometimes attack a much larger animal.
Most animal populations are held in check by three factors: Available food, predation, and parasitism.
Carnivores have a fourth mechanism that comes into play: Density-dependant population regulation—
animals killing their own kind. This includes all feline species, and also species like horses, mice, and
many others. This fourth type of population regulation is very important because most types of bear
aggression, with the exception of predatory aggression, pertains to this mechanism.
There are five types of genetically-based bear aggressive behaviours that include Predatory,
Competitive (breeding aggression), Home Range (defending personal space), Cub Killing (by males), and
Cub Defense (by sows). Four of these behaviours, excluding Predatory behaviour, are densitydependant and become significant when populations are high. Bears will kill other bears. Three of
these behaviours can be directed towards people: Predatory, Home Range, and Cub Defense.
In addition, there are four categories of modified behaviour in relation to what their mother has taught
them and a bear’s personal experience with humans: Wild, Man Wise (afraid of humans), Habituated
(to people), and Food Conditioned (or garbage conditioned).
After taking questions regarding the above information, I put up the Bella Coola Valley zone map
showing that the Valley has three distinct conflict zones.
4
CONFLICT ZONES
Zone #1 is from the dock at the head of the inlet to the Nusatsum River. This area has the tidal flats,
town site, Indian Reserve, multiple small farms extending ten miles up valley, and the town of
Hagensborg. This zone is where most of the people live and has extremely high-quality habitat for
bears. There are five side-streams, several river sloughs, and the Bella Coola River main-stem where
large numbers of four species of salmon spawn. The many farm clearings have created a mosaic of
dozens of plant varieties that bears feed on during the whole year, including berries in the edge habitat.
There are also high-quality plant foods on the adjacent hillsides and alpine areas. This zone is where
most of the human/bear conflict is taking place.
Zone #2 is from the Nusatsum River to the Tweedsmuir Park boundary, approximately 13 miles farther
up valley. This area has a scattering of houses and farm clearings with a low human population. The
lower section of the Noosgulch River has salmon spawning, but the Bella Coola River has few sloughs
and moves along all summer with its heavy load of silt. This zone is of medium-quality bear habitat with
the exception of spring foods at the back end of some side-valleys.
Zone #3 is from the Park boundary to the foot of The Hill eight miles farther up where Highway 20 starts
to ascend. This area is a semi-interior habitat with lots of natural riparian openings containing highquality plant foods for bears and has the confluence of the two rivers that form the Bella Coola. And of
course, there is the famous Atnarko spawning River with its east to west flow. This lake-fed river is clear
during the summer and the opposite of the glacial fed, silt-laden Talchako River flowing in from the
south. This zone has a large number of grizzly bears and other large carnivores. There are only a few
permanent residents in this zone and no farming, fruit trees, or gardening of any consequence.
5
THE GRIZZLY BEAR BEHAVIOUR IN THESE THREE ZONES IS DIFFERENT
Zone # 1 The bear population in this zone has been low for many decades and the conflict was also low.
The small number of grizzlies in this area used to be afraid of people and in the Man Wise category. In
recent years there has been a significant increase in the grizzly population, and since the year 2000,
there has been a dramatic increase in conflict. 2006, 2007 and 2008 were particularly bad for conflict
but in the fall 2008, a large number of grizzlies were killed by local residents. As a result of these kills,
we had a temporary reprieve from conflict during 2009, 2010 and 2011. By 2013 it was clear that the
population was recovering, and surviving bears were changing in behaviour again by becoming dayactive and bold. 2014 was a banner year for conflict. The bear behaviour exhibited by grizzlies in Zone #
1 during 2014 is not habituated or food conditioned behaviours because it takes many years for this to
develop. But more importantly, Man Wise modified bears will revert to natural wild behaviour when
negative experiences with humans stop. There is a powerful genetic force causing this to happen
because grizzlies with natural behaviour can obtain far more food resources when they can aggressively
compete against humans. This is an extremely important point because the provincial government is
managing bears based on the belief that what we saw in 2014 are bears in the same category as food
conditioned bears and caused by people’s careless handling of attractants. Grizzlies are first of all on
the Valley floor because of the vast amount of natural foods. When they find food sources on people’s
properties they don’t have a clue as to its origin or that it is not a natural food, and when they move
people out of the way, it’s no different than when they take foods from cougars, black bears, wolves,
and other grizzlies. They live in constant conflict with other animals and their own kind, and will
aggressively dominate any creature they come in contact with when they need food.
I have observed many grizzlies in remote areas of Northern BC where they have little or no contact with
humans. These bears have the natural behaviour of being day-active, bold, and in a continuous food
search. Their specialty is using their nose to locate animals killed by other carnivores, then using
aggression to take the carcass away. The grizzly that took a deer carcass from a shed on the Reserve at
Four-Mile this year was a bear acting out natural behaviour and is no different from a bear in a remote
area taking a deer carcass from a cougar. The human/bear conflict we saw in zone #1 in 2006, 2007,
2008, and then again in 2014 is natural conflict and is a direct result of a grizzly bear population
nearing a maximum phase.
Zone #2 Most of the bears in this zone fall into the Man Wise category because aggressive bears are
killed each year and many bears are hazed to make them fearful of people. Over the years I have
trained many bears in zone #2 to fear people. We will occasionally see day-active bears acting naturally
in the lower part of the Zone and sometimes encounter habituated Atnarko bears. There is some
conflict in this area and property damaged each year, but nothing compared to down valley.
Zone # 3 When I first came to the Valley in 1965, I spent a considerable amount of time along the
Atnarko River. At that time the grizzly population was suppressed by at least 70% from potential
carrying capacity, and the bears were terrified of people. Several years later I had the opportunity to
spend time in the upper Kimsquit River north of Bella Coola where there were no people. I was
surprised to see day-active, bold grizzlies that weren’t afraid of humans. That was when I first became
aware of the difference between natural grizzly behaviour and significantly modified Man Wise
behaviour.
6
In recent years the Atnarko River has become famous for bear viewing, and most of the grizzlies are
completely habituated to humans. But what happened between the time in the ‘60s when bears in that
Zone were nocturnal and terrified of people and the bears we see now that are day-active and have
suspended their natural fight or flight response to humans? Well, it just so happens that I was there to
observe exactly what took place and when I first discovered that grizzlies first revert to natural
behaviour before they can move on to become habituated-to-people bears.
I spent 25 years fishing the Atnarko River for Spring Salmon and observed what took place with grizzly
bears after the Park was closed for hunting and the bear population started to recover. At first during
the ‘70s we started seeing grizzly bears during the day time, then slowly we began having aggressive
encounters with grizzlies, and by the early ‘80s grizzlies were ruling the river. A fisherman was badly
injured by a grizzly in 1973, and a few years later, bears were aggressively taking fish from people, and
on some occasions, chasing tourists into their campers. Between 1970 and 1985 at least 20 grizzlies
were shot and killed in the Park that were charging people. There were a whole series of protections for
bears put in place in the late ‘70s, and the Mid Valley bear population increased as well. The bear
population peaked in 1983, with the exception of the Lower Valley, but well below potential carrying
capacity. For the first time people witnessed grizzlies walking down their driveways during the day time.
There were a large number of bears killed in ’83 that removed the bolder bears.
During the first half of the ‘90s the Atnarko Grizzly Study took place. One of the things determined by
the study was that female grizzly bears had small home ranges in that area and there was very little
exchange of family groups between the Upper Valley and the Lower Valley. There was some movement
between the two areas by females, but mostly by migrating sub-adult males and the large males.
Because there were many day-active grizzlies on the Atnarko River by the mid ‘90s, many photographers
started showing up to photograph and film bears. By the early 2000s photographers had slowly got
closer and closer to bears, and the first phase of habituation was taking place. Shortly thereafter guides
started using drift boats to view bears, and it took the Parks Branch several years to figure out how to
regulate this activity. Now, most Atnarko bears are completely habituated, and a thriving bear viewing
industry is taking place.
When I first encountered the Atnarko grizzly bears they were terrified of people, then after being
protected, their population increased and their behaviour reverted back to being natural. Then with
controlled exposure to humans and no significant conflict in the area, they became habituated to close
human presence.
THE PREHISTORIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INDIAN PEOPLE AND BEARS
When I attended the Bear/People Conflict Workshop at Kamloops, B.C., in January of 1996, a bear
biologist got mad at me during a group discussion and stated the following: For nine thousand five
hundred years Native Indians got along fine with bears, and if British Columbians don’t stop killing their
bears, American tourists should boycott the province. This particular biologist has had significant
influence in spreading this fallacy throughout North America, and he developed the Bear/People Conflict
Plan for B.C. during the late ‘80s.
7
After moving to the Central Coast in 1965 I worked with many Indian People in the logging industry and
heard their bear stories long before preservationist extremism and political correctness existed. I knew
the reality of how the original Indian Cultures dealt with bears.
In 1999 when I started research for my third book I hired graduate student Rick Budhwa of Simon Fraser
University to research and reference a large sample of historical documents regarding Indian/Bear
conflict, bear attacks on Indian People, Indian bear hunting, and Indian use of bear snares and deadfalls.
The material was substantial and couldn’t be interpreted in any other way than the following: Black
bears were hunted for their meat and hides by most Indian tribes and were not considered very
dangerous. However, the western tribes that interacted with grizzly bears were in continuous
dangerous conflict with this animal.
It is estimated that California had 10,000 grizzlies when the Spanish arrived, and this is where the worst
conflict was taking place. Fray Pedro Font wrote in 1776: “They often attack and do damage to the
Indians when they go out to hunt, of which I saw many horrible examples.” Jose Longinos Martinez,
1792: “The bears killed many Indians, within a short time I have seen two dead gentiles, victims of this
ferocious animal.” J. S. Hittell, 1863: “They break into the huts of the Indians and eat them.” Chevers,
1870: “I saw many Indian bearing the scars of conflicts with grizzly bears”. J. Quinn Thornton, 1885:
“Grizzlies sometimes attack and devour the Indians”.
One of the most interesting statements comes from Fray Fransico Palou pertaining to Spanish
settlement. When the Spaniards moved into an area to build a mission and to establish cattle ranching,
the first thing they would do was to unleash the army against the local bear population. Shortly
thereafter, the bears were eliminated. Then, Indians from all over would come and camp near the new
settlements, celebrating and giving gifts to the Spanish to thank them for destroying the enemy of
mankind.
However, accounts of Indian/grizzly interactions in Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska
are different, because the farther North you get, the more successful the Indian People were in their
war against the great bear. The primary reason for these differences was the use of northern type dog
breeds and the use of snare and deadfall technologies. Many of the northern tribes hunted grizzlies in
the open, and also when in their dens.
When I first came to Bella Coola I would go around and introduce myself to old-time trappers and bear
guides in order to obtain information about bush skills and knowledge. I quickly zeroed in on Bob
Ratcliff because of his clear, no BS way of explaining things. The second time I visited him I told Bob that
I had hiked up the Talchako trail into his old trapping area to the first cabin. After he gave location
information regarding the whereabouts of the other three cabins, he asked if I had noticed the two
Indian bear deadfalls on the trail just west of Sill Creek. I responded that I hadn’t. He carefully
described how to find them and said that they were almost completely rotted away and covered with
moss.
Later that fall I headed into the Talchako River Valley to hunt mountain goats and allowed time to find
the deadfalls. Once I pulled the moss back and looked at the first one, I was surprised.
When I was a young man I had bought an old trapping magazine that had a sketch of an Indian bear
deadfall, so I knew what they looked like and how the trigger worked, but I had never seen or heard of
8
anything like what I now saw. The ground bed log was just a shell, and the drop was two logs roped
together with large angular rocks piled on top--the first of which had been set into a notch so it wouldn’t
slide off. One of the two trees supporting the cross log that had been notched in and lashed about six
feet off the ground had fallen over and the second tree was about to do the same. The trigger
mechanism was long gone but these triggers were ingenious because the leverage was such that an 800
pound drop log could be let loose with only about a five pound stepping weight. The second deadfall
was similar to what I expected with a single large drop log that had a notch in it so that another log
could be leaned against it to increase the drop weight after the trigger was set.
I finished off this segment of the course with four references (Pages 2, 133, 272, 710 Volume One) from
T. F. McIlwraith’s great ethnological work documenting the original culture of The Bella Coola Indians so
that there would be no doubt about the fact that the Nuxalk People killed grizzly bears. I then said, “The
Nuxalk did not allow bears to damage their weirs or fish traps, and did not allow grizzlies to come into
their villages to steal fish and endanger people’s lives like what is now happening.
The Indian People in the audience seemed to appreciate this information because some people on the
local Reserve and most of the Coast Indian Bands have embraced the preservation doctrine.
VALLEY GRIZZLY BEAR POPULATIONS OVER TIME
I answered questions on the above topic then put up the grizzly population chart.
The Northern Indian People killed grizzlies in many different ways, and more importantly, they were able
to suppress grizzly bear populations. Let’s take a look at the grizzly bear population chart.
The horizontal line at the bottom is a time line from 1880 to 2014. On the left side are the population
numbers from 0 at to 200 near the top. I then explained that the population numbers on the left side
were not intended to be the exact number of grizzlies, but rather a more relevant estimated number of
how many bears are on the Valley floor during August, September, and October within the three conflict
zones.
(At a Rod & Gun Club meeting in the late fall of 2007, after a horrific summer of conflict resulting from a
high grizzly bear population, club members were able to identify approximately 40 grizzly bears,
including cubs, that were day-active in people’s yards between Bella Coola and Hagensborg based on
the number of cubs, age of cubs, colours of sows and cubs, smaller single bears, and large males.
Fortunately, with these types of variations within a grizzly population, it’s fairly easy to come up with
reasonably accurate estimates. Forty grizzly bears were not all of the bears in Zone # 1 because some
were still nocturnal and shy.)
It doesn’t matter whether or not the population estimates represent the exact number of grizzly
bears. We don’t need a bear study to determine how many grizzlies there are. Human safety trumps
all other concerns, and all we need is common sense applied to the following four questions: How
much human/bear conflict is taking place? How many bear attacks are happening? How many bears
are people seeing? What kind of behaviors are bears exhibiting? We don’t need any other
information for determining what is needed to reduce risk to people.
9
200
150
100
50
0
1880
1900
1925
1950
1975
2000
2014
GRIZZLY BEAR POPULATION OVER TIME
You can see the wavy line going across the chart from before 1880 to 1955 without change. This
represents a low number of between 60 and 70 grizzlies in the conflict zones for a very long time. By
1880 the Indian People had been decimated by small pox and other diseases and their influences on
bear populations subsided. The Norwegian colony arrived in Bella Coola in 1894, and very quickly they
were using modern firearms to control large carnivore populations. Based on statements by old-timers,
the grizzly population would build up resulting in livestock being killed, orchards being damaged, and
gardens being destroyed. Then there would be 30 to 40 grizzlies killed off, and six to seven years later,
problems would once again rise and another kill-off would be required.
In about 1955 guided hunting of grizzlies increased into a larger activity than before and soon became a
factor in controlling bear populations. But the old way of depending on the land was starting to slow
down because men could now get work in the logging industry. The chart shows that the population
started increasing after 1955 and peaked for a short time in about 1983. This was the first time that
many grizzlies were seen in the daytime, but the population was still only at about 100 grizzlies on the
Valley floor. Fifteen grizzlies were shot in ’83 and things settled back down for a couple of years. After
that the population started to slowly increase and was mainly held in check with resident control action.
Then something important happened in the late ‘90s: Three old-timers that had been killing at least 20
grizzlies per year between them, died. These bears were killed in relation to milk cows, beef stock,
sheep, hogs, chickens, orchards, and gardens. A few years later grizzly bears were everywhere and not
afraid of people. Between 2001 and 2008 the population reached maximum-phase and there were
five grizzly attacks on people. After the population was reduced, and then came up again, there was
another attack in 2013.
You can see by the chart that the population drops off dramatically in the fall of 2008 after the
conservation officer left Bella Coola. The locals were fed up with the Government’s policies for
overprotecting bears and solved the problem themselves. We had a significant drop in conflict the
10
following year and a temporary reprieve until 2012. The population started building back up by 2013,
and in 2014 conflict was at an all-time high.
As a comparison, you have to go way back to 1973 and 1974 when there were two grizzly attacks in
Bella Coola, and then nothing serious for 28 years. These recent attacks are directly related to the
grizzly population being extremely high. We haven’t reached maximum-phase population yet, but will
within the next two years. At that point we will see the cub and sub-adult ratio in the population go
down significantly as large boars start to kill more and more young bears.
(There was also an attack in 1987 on Conservation Officer, Keith Rande. I don’t include this event in the
attack statistics because it was a provoked attack. Not because of anything Keith and the two men with
him did, but because the sow grizzly had been shot by a local resident in a chicken coop with a shotgun
blast. Keith and his two friends had the awful task of hunting down the bear and killing it.)
Every so often during the presentation I would open the floor to questions. One of the questions asked
was: ‘Why do you use the term ‘maximum-phase populations’?” I explained that the term often used
by bear biologists, ‘historical populations’, implies carrying capacity without including the influence on
bear populations by Native North Americans. My term means carrying capacity regarding long-term
food availability and density-dependant regulation with little or no human-caused mortalities.
Then another question came up: “Isn’t it true that there has never been a person killed by a grizzly in
Bella Coola?” That is correct; no one has been killed yet, and for a very good reason. During the last 50
years there have been over 750 grizzlies killed by local residents averaging more than 15 per year. The
big problem we have now is there are not enough people in the Lower Valley anymore who are able to
keep the population in check.
At this point I decided it was time to bring up a different issue regarding bear populations.
POPULATION SINK
About 20 years ago a biologist introduced a model that he called a Population Sink. He claimed that in
areas like Lower Bella Coola where local residents were killing so many grizzlies, they were creating a
population sink that would substantially reduce the surrounding number of grizzlies as well. He seemed
to be implying that these kills would create a huge spinning vortex that would start sucking bears in
from all directions to their deaths. This concept is untrue.
Right during the years when the Lower Valley grizzly population was held at rock bottom, the Upper and
Mid Valley population recovered quickly, even with considerable mortality. This could not happen if
there was any validity to the Population Sink Model.
These statements made the preservationist uncomfortable and he wanted to argue about it, but I shut
him off and continued.
11
SIX BELLA COOLA GRIZZLY ATTACKS
It’s now time to look at the six grizzly attacks that took place in recent years when the bear population
peaked. There’s something you need to know about bear attacks first: Preservationists will always try
to blame people for these events, and I will show you what that looks like.
See SIX BELLA COOLA GRIZZLY ATTACKS at the end
There are some interesting things about these six attacks. 1. One was a conflict attack, and five were
random attacks that you would expect to happen when there is a high bear population. 2. Two were
sows defending their cubs, and four were single bear attacks including large males. This is highly
unusual for the B.C. coast where in the past most attacks have been by sow grizzlies with cubs. 3. One
was possibly predatory, and five were defensive. We might see more predatory attacks if the bear
population is not reduced.
The most important fact about these attacks is that in recent years the Bella Coola Valley has had the
highest bear attack rate in North America by far. But the provincial government doesn’t seem to be
interested and will probably try to continue its existing bear management plan for the Valley.
When I opened the floor to questions after the above segment a preservationist asked how many
people were killed each year by bear attacks. I responded that the North American average was about
three per year killed and about 20 to 30 serious injuries. He was obviously trying to downplay the
danger, so I added that in 2005 there were six people killed and all of these attacks were predatory and
may represent changing behaviour in bears. This seemed to set him back a little as he searched through
his papers. But at this point I failed to say something very important that I have always stated in my
training and this was the only time during the Bella Coola course that I missed a beat.
(The yearly statistics regarding the number of bear attacks is missing a very large component that no
one documents, which is: How many North Americans shoot and kill bears that are coming after them
each year? During the 14 years that I traveled and conducted bear encounter survival courses I heard
many of these accounts. I tried to document some of these, but most people stated that they didn’t
report the incident and don’t want to have to justify to authorities their reason for doing it. There are at
least ten people a year in B.C. killing bears under this circumstance, not counting hunters. It’s not
possible to determine how many bears are killed each year that would have injured or killed people if
the person involved had not been armed, but it is a substantial number.)
CONFLICT IN OTHER AREAS
Let’s now take a look at what has happened in other areas in recent years regarding human/bear
conflict.
New Jersey is a classic example of what happens when mythology and reality collide. Black bear hunting
was halted in New Jersey in 1971 when populations fell to about 100 bears. Since 1980 bear
populations have slowly increased, but then started to rapidly increase. In 1999 there were over 1,000
bears, and in 2012 over 3,000 in the northwestern part of the state mixing with 700,000 people.
In 1995 the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife handled 250 bear complaints, which jumped each
year to reach 1,659 in 1999. During 1998 more than $50,000 was spent to educate people on how to live
12
side-by-side with bears. Also, government personnel were employing an array of aversion conditioning
techniques to teach bears to stay away from residential areas. By early October 1999 there were 157
reports of property damage, 21 livestock killed, 13 beehives destroyed, 10 rabbits killed, 7 dogs
attacked, and 30 vehicles damaged. A bear was killed that was hanging around a school and another
that chased a woman into her neighbor’s garage. The first restrictions placed on people was to limit
them to placing their garbage cans on the curb no more than one hour before pick-up. It didn’t take
long for bears to figure this one out and started meeting people on the curb at 4:30 in the morning.
Next, some municipalities decided to spend some real money on neighborhood bear-proof dumpsters.
This actually stopped bear’s access to garbage in some areas, but the next turn of events was surprising
to those who don’t know anything about nature: Bears started entering houses.
The types of events described above are also taking place in many other areas of the U.S. and Canada.
But finally, we are now seeing strong evidence from many areas that preservationism doesn’t work; that
is, unless you don’t care about large amounts of property damage and danger to people.
NATURAL CONFLICT OR HARMONY
Humans co-evolved with wolves and cougars as competitive predators. But we co-evolved with bears as
adversaries—adversaries that both have high levels of aggression for defending offspring, food, and
personal space. Unlike true predators, bears require food items that include many types of human
foods. It's rare to have a cougar or a wolf forage in a garbage can, but common for bears. Humans are
predatory omnivores, and bears are omnivoristic predators. We arrived at our similar evolutionary
status from opposite directions. Unfortunately, our survival requirements overlap too much for us to
live side-by-side.
The belief that people and bears can live in harmony is a fantasy that has cost millions in property
damage and caused injury and death to people. Would it be possible to stop the endless battle between
African lions and hyenas? Do grizzlies, black bears, wolves, and cougars live in harmony? The notion
that humans are somehow exempt from the large carnivore competition complex is so illogical it’s hard
to believe that so many people have embraced it.
If you extend the hypothesis that humans and bears can live in harmony to the point when all unnatural
attractants have been removed from the Bella Coola Valley; it means that bears will not be predatory
towards us, that they will no longer come near our homes or enter our houses when they are starving,
and that sows will no longer attack us when we accidentally get to close to their cubs. What mechanism
in nature could possibly reverse millions of years of evolution to make that happen?
Conflict between humans and bears is natural conflict, the kind that exists throughout nature. It is
not their fault or our fault, and nothing can be done to stop it.
WHAT CAN BE DONE
The Nuxalk have the right to net salmon in the river, and many of them are commercial fisherman. The
fish caught for personal consumption are brought home and placed in backyard cast iron tubs containing
cold water. Over the next few days the fish are placed on cutting tables and sliced into strips, some of
13
which are brined before placing in the large smokehouses. After smoking and drying, the fish is stored
for winter use. This is the very essence of their lives, and these activities are similar to what was taking
place in their villages throughout the Valley for thousands of years. Therefore, the fish on the Reserve
are not unnatural attractants.
Some people complain about how bad some of the Indian People’s yards are. This is not intended as an
insult to the Nuxalk, because you don’t have to go back very far in time for the same circumstances to
have existed in communities all over Europe and other parts of the world. Every archeologist knows
that until very recently people deposited their garbage at a throwing distance from the Village.
The Nuxalk People must not lose their right to process fish in their back yards, and the White
Community must not lose its freedom to pursue agricultural activities no matter how offended the
preservationists may be. However, if the residents of the Valley decide to petition the government for a
system of reducing the bear population for human safety, we must not give the preservationists and
their newspaper allies any more reason than necessary to condemn us. Many yards need to be cleaned
up, including some in the White Community. Public relations are important.
The people on the Indian Reserve and the adjacent White Community in the Lower Valley have a
dangerous problem to deal with and also the Whites in Zone #2 to a lesser degree. But I am going to
concentrate on the solution for the Indian Reserve where the conflict is most severe and also because
the Nuxalk have a complex political situation regarding the killing of grizzly bears. If we can solve the
Reserve problem, it will automatically solve the problem for the adjacent White Community.
At present, the Chief and Council on the Reserve are under pressure from bear preservationists to not
kill any bears no matter what, and are under pressure from the provincial government to comply with
the Bear Safe Program by removing unnatural attractants. In addition, on the other side of the
spectrum, the Indian Authorities are under tremendous pressure from the Indian People to do
something about the dangerous animals roaming the reserve.
The Nuxalk Band Council has another issue to resolve because they are part of an alliance with six other
Band Authorities that have taken a position against the hunting or killing of grizzly bears. Four of these
other Bands live on the Outer Coast where there are a few or no grizzly bears. One Band to the north
has far less grizzlies to deal with, and one Band to the south has occasional grizzly problems of a cyclical
nature. For various reasons, the Nuxalk Band is under much more scrutiny than the other Bands by
preservationists, by the representative of the Bear Aware Program, and by the Conservation Officer
Service. I don’t envy them in dealing with this one.
The ultimate expression of the government’s policies for reducing human/bear conflict would be to
force the Nuxalk People to eliminate all bear attractants in their yards. It would be literally impossible to
build electric fences with gates that would actually function on a yard-by-yard basis. The only thing that
would work would be to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on two large perimeter electric fences
at both subdivision areas with automatic road gates at eight different locations and then force the
Indian People to live in concentration camps.
This would probably make the preservationists happy, but is totally unnecessary because the problem
did not exist for hundreds of years prior to 2005. There were always a significant number of people
living in the lower part of the Valley, including before the arrival of Europeans. All we have to do is
recreate what the Indian People did for centuries and then what the White People did in later years.
14
For centuries the Bella Coola Indians hunted and killed grizzly bears for robes, for placing freshly skinned
hides around young men to make them brave, and they did not allow bears to come into their villages to
steal fish and to endanger people’s lives. The present population of bears and cougars in the Lower
Valley is unacceptable and something must be done soon.
HUMAN PRIORITY ZONE
We need a Human Priority Zone in the Lower Valley where large carnivores are reduced in population
and then held in check. But this would require the B.C. government to place human safety over
preservationism. I don’t believe that the provincial government can impose its ‘people and bears can
live in harmony’ doctrine on the Nuxalk. There have been numerous court cases across Canada that’s
ended up at the Supreme Court regarding Indian rights. The High Court rulings have made it clear that
the Indian People have the right to live as close to their traditional ways as possible. Processing fish and
killing bears is an interrelated dualistic mechanism for survival and both are part of the Nuxalk’s long
traditional activities. But they will very likely lose these rights if they don’t proclaim them and make
the provincial government aware of them.
In addition, Zone # 2 needs to be designated as a hunting interception area and Zone # 3 as a bear
viewing area.
BELLA COOLA BEAR MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY
A committee needs to be struck with three members appointed by the Nuxalk Band Council and three
appointed by the Regional District Board. An additional three members are also needed from
government: The Large Carnivore Specialist in Victoria, the Senior Wildlife Biologist in Nanaimo, and the
Senior Conservation Officer in Williams Lake.
This committee must have the absolute clear mandate to reduce the number of large carnivores in the
Lower Valley on a long-term basis or there is no reason for the committee to exist. The belief that it is
possible to have a high population of grizzlies and at the same time maintain safety for the people in
Zone # 1 is a collision between mythology and reality, because the two are mutually exclusive.
ACTION NEEDED
During the summer of 2015 the Conservation Officer Service (COs) needs to start trapping bears using
culvert traps distributed from the dock to the Nusatsum River. The COs will need to be set up for
handling dangerous circumstances where a member of a grizzly family is in a culvert trap and the others
are outside. The trapped bears would be taken to a safe, posted, gated, and advertised site where the
animals are dispatched. In the first part of the trapping campaign, bears should be removed randomly
to reduce the population by a number decided upon by the committee. Then later in September, the
number of traps should be reduced and relocated for targeting specific animals involved in conflict.
Also, permits should be written for individuals who want to hunt cougars with dogs or to trap cougars.
The trapping campaign would continue until October 30th or when the target number of bears has been
reached.
15
Each year thereafter, trapping would start again in the summer using the number of traps that seems
necessary and using a target number of grizzlies and black bears to be removed set by the committee.
We can keep the bear and cougar populations in Zone #1 low for the next 100 years and there will still
be large numbers of these species in all directions.
In Zone #2 the existing Limited Entry Hunting regulation should continue with the existing number of
permits allowed. The regulations for hunting grizzlies in B.C. is so limiting, and the number of bears
killed are so low, that it makes it difficult to reduce populations and to target dangerous bears.
However, when you consider that four of the attacking bears in Bella Coola were single bears, and that
the two bears killed on the Reserve were large males, then hunting may well play an important role in
this area for reducing the number of dangerous bears, but only if certain changes are made to existing
regulations.
Once the Human Priority Zone has accomplished its purpose, the Indian People can get back to their
traditional ways of processing fish without concern, and the White Community can once again enjoy
their semi-agricultural lifestyle.
PRECEDENT FOR REDUCING A PART OF A LOCAL GRIZZLY POPULATION
We already have a precedent for removing a large numbers of grizzly bears in relation to human safety.
When the city of Mackenzie decided to fence its dump in the middle ‘90s, local Conservation Officer
Andy Mackay told city managers that if you do that, the large number of grizzly bears in the dump will
move into the town. Andy proposed that he would trap and relocate the bears to remote areas, then
the dump could be fenced, and after that, he would kill any bears that came back and were hanging out
near people. Sixty-three grizzlies were shot over a two-and-a-half year period.
We also have a precedent right here in Bella Coola when a smaller number of grizzlies were killed by the
government for reducing bear danger to people.
We never had grizzlies in our garbage dump until about 1998, because of the Lower Valley Reduction
Zone enforced by local residents. When Conservation Officer James Zuchelli first inspected the local
dump after arriving here in the early 2000s, he had an experience that convinced him the dump grizzlies
were extremely dangerous. Not long after, 11 grizzlies were shot. The dump was then fenced 2004.
EXISTING HUMAN PRIORTY ZONE
We already have a very large Human Priority Zone in the city of Vancouver. There are hundreds of black
bears killed each year in an arc around the city. Before long, there will be grizzlies killed as well because
they have recovered in population down the whole South Coast and are nearing the Vancouver area. At
one time there were large numbers of grizzly bears along the Fraser River and all over Vancouver. So
that area is also bear habitat.
It’s well known that most people in Vancouver don’t want grizzly bears killed. If there should be an
outcry by people in the Lower Mainland over our Human Priority Zone, there is a simple solution: We
16
can relocate these bears to Stanley Park near Vancouver so that those people can demonstrate to us
how to live in harmony with grizzly bears.
This concluded the morning session of the Bear Encounter Survival Course and we took a break for
lunch. At this point one of the Indian gentleman came up to me and stated that there was a fish
shortage this year that made the bear problems worse. I told him that the same thing happened in
2007, and we need to manage bear populations in relation to the fish shortage years.
During the afternoon I provided information about Bear Avoidance, Spray Use, Firearms Use, Dogs Use,
and about Cougar Attacks. I introduced the Bear Avoidance material by stating, “Unfortunately, it will
be very difficult during the next few years for people in the Valley to avoid bears. So the emphasis must
be on defense and convincing the government to reduce the bear population.”
CONCLUSION
Most of the people in the Bella Coola Valley have strong feelings about being directly involved in the
procurement and storage of food; whether it’s fish from the river, game from the mountains, fruit from
the orchard, or produce from the garden. The lifestyle associated with these feelings is under assault
from preservationists who want to force us into living a sterile existence devoid of our important
connections with the past.
The Indian People need continuity with their past culture and a link to their ancestral history that
provides the identity for surviving the present and the future. If something isn’t done soon, the Nuxalk
may lose their right to process salmon on the Reserve as more and more pressure is applied to remove
all bear attractants in the Valley. If this happens, something very special will be lost forever and our
Valley will never be the same again. We must not let the preservationists and the government force us
into accepting the preservationist doctrine.
The people of Bella Coola have been set up for tragedy. Grizzly bears are now entering out buildings and
may soon start entering houses. If we don’t create a Human Priority Zone in the near future, we won’t
just lose tremendous freedom and our lifestyle, there will be more injury and possibly a death caused by
a bear or a cougar.
After all the bear encounters, property damage, and cougar sightings this year, it should be clear to
anyone with a logical mind that the government’s local policies for managing dangerous animals are
not working. The time has come for the B.C. Provincial Government to help the Nuxalk Band Council
and the Central Coast Regional District in creating a Bella Coola Bear Management Authority with a
clear mandate to reduce large carnivore populations for human safety.
Respectfully,
Gary Shelton
17
SIX BELLA COOLA GRIZZLY ATTACKS
It’s now time to look at the six grizzly attacks that took place in recent years when the bear population
peaked. There’s something you need to know about bear attacks first: Preservationists will always try
to blame people for these events, and I will show you what that looks like.
The first attack in 2001 was on high school teacher Russell Walker just across the river from my place in
Noosgulch Creek. He had ridden his peddle bike up the Valley and then entered the logging road. After
20 minutes or so he saw a grizzly bounding towards him. He jumped off the bike then turned and ran. It
was only seconds before the bear took him down from behind. “I could hear it crunching away, biting
me,” he later stated in a Vancouver hospital. He had his hands wrapped around the back of his neck but
the bear was biting him below his hands. Russell was screaming with every bite, but when he finally
stopped screaming and lay still, the grizzly dragged him to the side of the road, and the attack stopped.
After not moving for several minutes, Walker could see that the sow had left with its two cubs. He
stumbled to his feet, retrieved his bike, and then rode the seven kilometers back to the main highway.
Before long, people in a car passing by saw him lying beside the road and took him to the Bella Coola
hospital. The hospital staff worked on him for over six hours trying to repair the damage. He ended up
with over 100 stitches to his head, neck, and torso, and his right ear eventually needed major
reconstructive surgery. He had bites and scratches everywhere, and he felt lucky to be alive.
He never came back to Bella Coola.
Not long after this attack I heard the statement that this guy foolishly biked past many piles of bear
manure before the attack, implying that it was partly his own fault. I suspect he thought that all of the
bear droppings on the road was from bears travelling back and forth at night time and didn’t realise that
there was high-quality grass and clover along the edge of the logging road that would hold a feeding
bear in one spot. Why else would he have continued on his way if he had known anything about the
spring feeding behaviour of grizzly bears?
The next attack was on my trapping partner Joe Stewart in October of 2002, also not very far from my
home. Joe was out mushroom picking near Hammer Road when he heard a noise and then saw a huge
grizzly galloping towards him from a hundred yards away. Joe remembered the advice I had given him:
Get behind a tree to slow the bear down, and then spray the bear at close range. Joe had forgotten his
spray, but was carrying a brush hook. He was in a logged area and the only thing close was a clump of
vine maple that he immediately jumped behind. The large boar rammed into the saplings then turned
its head sideways and was trying to bite Joe in the stomach. He started hitting the bear with his
brushing tool on the top of its head which was the same height as his chest, all the while screaming for
his dog “Iche”, “Iche”, “Iche”. The dog was there in a flash and grabbed the bear by the tail, and the
fight was on. Iche escorted the bear back to the ridge it had come from, and Joe had no injuries.
I never heard about any comments by preservationists claiming that Joe was somehow at fault for the
attack, but maybe there were some.
The next victim was Jack Turner, who I had met way back in 1965 on a remote part of the Upper Atnarko
River. He was hauling grain with pack horses for feeding the Trumpeter Swans on Lonesome Lake. He
was nice enough to offer to pack a grizzly hide out for me if I shot one on my hunt. He was living down
Valley from me in Salloompt when the attack happened in late October of 2005. He was walking from
his cabin towards his daughter’s house after dark when a grizzly bear that had been eating apples under
18
an apple tree came after him. After the bear knocked him down, it ripped a large part of his scalp and
left ear off. He received multiple bites as the bear was flinging him around. After a couple of minutes
the bear retreated and this allowed him to run for the house. Jack spent many months in the Vancouver
burn unit so that his awful wounds could slowly heal. Many skin grafts were required for replacing his
missing scalp.
There was of course a loud reaction to this event because of the apple tree involved. It was clearly an
important factor, but so was the bear population a factor. But, we will call this attack a conflict attack.
I’ve known Leon Barnett for a long time. He’s not a bear hunter, but had to kill a grizzly some years back
that had killed six alpacas in one rampage on his property. Leon is a hunter and good with firearms.
One Friday evening late in the fall of 2007, he called me and said that he had been out deer hunting that
day and had to kill a grizzly in self defense. He continued that the Conservation Officer couldn’t get
permission to go out and document the attack until Monday because it would be overtime on the
weekend. Leon asked me to come out with him the next day and record the event because he was
afraid of being charged for killing the bear unnecessarily.
We hiked into the area, and there was about six inches of snow on the ground, which made it easy to
read the story. Leon had circled the young sow, and on his way back walked to within 50 feet or so from
where she was bedded down in a draw out-of-sight. She instantly charged right at him, and he shot her
at 30 feet. The tracks, the brass, the dead bear, it was all there.
I then explained to the course attendees that about a month later a friend had asked me if I had heard
that some people were claiming that the reason the bear had went after Leon was because someone
else had dumped a cow carcass in that area and the sow was defending an important fat source. So the
attack was caused by humans.
I told the audience that this was impossible for several very good reasons. When Leon and I walked
back to the truck we noticed that a rancher had dumped the leftovers from butchering a beef on the
back end of a field. There hadn’t been any food value in the hide and skull for at least a week, but birds
and small critters were still chewing on it. The sow was bedded too far away to be protecting the hide.
Also, there were tracks in the snow of a large boar that had been walking back and forth to the river
each day—the sow wouldn’t have tried to defend anything with the large male nearby. Don’t forget,
preservationists will always find ways to blame people for a bear attack.
The attack on Brent Case in the Lower Noosgulch Creek in early May of 2008 was also a short distance
for my home. Brent was doing survey work for a proposed dam and generator plant. As he walked
along he felt that something was watching him, and when he turned around, a large grizzly bear was
coming straight for him. At first he was bitten on the left elbow, then on the right arm, and as the bear
took him down Brent went into a fetal position and protected the back of his neck. The animal started
gnawing on his head and it sounded like someone chewing gristle on a chicken bone: ‘He’s eating my
brain,’ Brent thought. The pain was excruciating, and he wanted to scream blue murder, but forced
himself to keep quiet and lay still, hoping the bear would leave. The next thing he knew the bear was
pushing him into the marshy ground, after which it partially covered him with mud and sticks and then
left. The victim presumed that the bear was planning to return later for a snack. Brent continued to
play dead until the grizzly was far enough away that he could safely jump up and run for his car. He was
badly injured and needed many repairs.
19
This has all the earmarks of a predatory attack. I can’t figure out how he survived this incident. Maybe
the bear had just killed and eaten some animal and had a full belly. About two weeks after Brent Case’s
attack I heard the rumor that the reason for the attack was because this is the area where the
Conservation Officers dump the bears they kill. Will the nonsense ever end?
Brent called me several years later to talk about the attack. I could tell that he was very happy to be
alive and didn’t end up spread out across the forest floor in bear droppings.
The latest attack took place in September of 2013 on an Indian Man and was by a sow grizzly with cubs.
Jerry Lacerte was walking along the highway near the Reserve when the bear came after him. The
victim ended up with bites to his left arm and shoulder and cuts to his face, but he ended the attack by
punching the bear on the nose.
There is a direct relationship between the large number of grizzly bears in the Valley and these six
bear attacks. We are now in a circumstance where we could have a fatal animal attack at any time
and at any place in the Valley, including in the Park.
End of the Bella Coola bear course.
There is an important issues regarding preservationism that I did not present in the Bella Coola Bear
Encounter Survival Course that needs to be dealt with because it provides a prehistoric and a modern
perspective about the bear problems we are having in the Bella Coola Valley.
I started hearing a statement during the early 1990s from some bear biologist that was an indicator of
what was coming: People in the Valley should not complain about grizzly bear problems because
when they moved here they should have known that this is bear habitat and that bears were here
first. This statement implies that bears have chronological proprietary rights that supersede human
rights.
When I moved to Bella Coola, and when most people living here moved to the Valley, or were born here,
no such self-destructive concept existed. But if you think about the bear events described in the first
paper that is part of this material, you can see that grizzlies in the Bella Coola Valley do have more rights
than people, and human/bear conflict in B.C. is being managed by the ‘bears were here first principle’.
We are now second-class citizens to a large number of dangerous animals that are bossing us around
and want us out of the way. The concept that bears were here first and have rights above humans is
one of the primary premises underlying the preservationist doctrine that spread across North America
during the ‘90s like a self-replicating virus that destroyed historical reality and common sense from
human dialogue. It is one of the principles that is now the basis for bear management in B.C.
Actually, you may be surprised to learn that this belief is totally wrong. On a larger scale, we now know,
based on carbon dates at Pre-Clovis sites, that the first Siberians came down the West Coast by boat and
had settled all of North and South America long before the ice-free corridor opened up enough for
grizzly bears to move south. The only exception to this fact is Northern Alberta, part of the Yukon, and
Alaska where grizzlies existed during the last ice-age north of the ice sheet.
On a local scale, the latest archeological research indicates that Paleo-People first arrived in the Central
Coast of British Columbia around 10,000 years ago from the North. At that time ocean levels were much
20
higher, and the mouth of the inlet was over 30 miles up valley near Stuie. The first hunter-gatherers
lived on marine benches that still exist today throughout the Valley.
These People could not travel to the east by land because there was a massive wall of ice at the
entrances to the Atnarko and Talchako River Valleys. If you look at Figure 1.4 on page 11 of ‘After The
Ice Age’ by E.C. Pielou, you will see the remnant of the Cordilleran ice-sheet extending down the whole
east side of the Coast Range Mountains during that time period that completely blocked any movement
between interior areas of B.C and the Coast. Grizzly bears could not have obtained access to the Bella
Coola Valley from the ice-free corridor when they expanded their range from Beringia into the rest of
North America. They probably didn’t arrive at the Central Coast until about 2,000 years after humans. It
might have been even later because there was no food for them. What existed at that time was a
devastated landscape of glacial moraine and debris. There was no salmon in the rivers, and plant foods
were meager until about 6,500 years ago. People were able to survive because they brought with them
a marine culture of taking foods from the ocean that bears could not obtain. These Paleo-Indians were
primarily seal hunters that carried on the Arctic traditions of the North for several thousand years until
the ice released its grip and salmon finally returned to the rivers.
Does this mean that we have all the rights and we should kill off all the bears? Of course not. Contrary
to what the preservationists claim, the People of Bella Coola are very tolerant of bears until their
numbers become so high that the risk of bear attacks becomes significant.
End
21