Comox Valley Naturalists Society

November, 2003
Frank Hovenden

The grizzly bear, ursus artos horribillis, is a subspecies of the brown bear family, which is found, or more correctly was found, in much of the northern hemisphere. Here in North America their population range has steadily shrunk from the entire western half of North America to basically BC, Alberta, northern Canada and Alaska. In California it is still prominent on the state flag but nowhere else in that state.

The grizzly is not as a rule found on Vancouver Island, although recently one was shot on northern Vancouver Island. An interesting bit of bear biology and islands, is that islands only contain one bear species. That is, if an island is home to black bears it will not have grizzly and if it has grizzly it will not have black bear as a breeding population.

The grizzly is often described as our second largest carnivore (next to the polar bear) in North America. This picture taken at Knight Inlet clearly shows it is an omnivore, as these bears are observed contently eating estuary grass. In fact plants make up to 80 to 90% of its diet. Large males have been known to weigh up to 500 kg, although 300 kg is more common with the smaller females weighing only half of that. The grizzly is a very opportunistic when it comes to food. On the coast they consume huge quantities of salmon in the fall, while in the arctic they consume ground squirrels. Over most of its range, berries are considered the most important item in the bears' diet.

There is often confusion in distinguishing between the grizzly and the black bear when the two are found together. Besides its larger size the grizzly has a prominent shoulder hump formed by its massive foreleg muscles. Its face has a concave profile differing from the straight profile of the black bear. There is tremendous variation in the grizzly’s colour from nearly white to black. The bears I observed this summer at the Glendale estuary were blond while one I observed at Bella Coola was black.

Viewing grizzly bears is quickly becoming a major tourist draw in BC. Northern Vancouver Island is now the base of operations for many bear viewing guides. This summer I had the opportunity to join Howard Pattinson and Tide Rip Tours on a trip into Knight Inlet. Here the bears on shore are observed from the safety of the boat. I was duly impressed by the care that the operators take in not disturbing the bears. The boats were anchored 100m offshore and the engine shut down. The bears did their thing, which was to eat grass while we tourists captured them on film.

International visitors who were on the trip were shocked to learn that in BC it is still legal to shoot the grizzly for a trophy. I have no doubt that the days of trophy hunting the grizzly will be coming to a close. The economic benefit from killing bears pales in comparison to the tourist values of saving the grizzly bear. There is more money to be made in watching bears than there is in killing them.

The grizzly is a wilderness animal. Unlike the black bear that will live and adapt to human activity, the grizzly requires its own space. Conflicts with humans have reduced the grizzly’s range by more than half in North America while its smaller cousin the black bear has held its own.

The Grizzly Bear has often been viewed as a symbol of wild savage untamed nature. As such it comes as no surprise that it has made an easy transition into BC politics. A hunting moratorium, which was hastily applied shortly before the last election by the NDP, was then just as quickly, lifted post-election by the BC Liberals. The grizzly deserves better than to be treated as a political football.

Click on a link below to view the CVNS newspaper column.