The Spirit Bear

British Columbia's rare and mythical white bear cubs may lose their mothers to a trophy hunt next month

In the rainforest of the central and north coast of British Columbia lives the Kermode Bear (Ursus americanus kermodei), a subspecies of the American Black Bear.

Due to a unique recessive trait in their gene pool, about 10% of these bears have a white or cream-colored coat, a feature that has made it a prominent animal in the mythology of Canadian First Nations and American Indians, who call it the "Spirit Bear."

Next month, a trophy hunt threatens to edge the Spirit Bear towards extinction. Only about 400 of these rare animals remain.

"While Spirit Bears themselves are protected from hunting, Spirit Bear cubs could face starvation if their black-coated mothers are gunned down," said Natural Resources Defense Council President Frances Beinecke in an email.

"Yet the government of British Columbia has approved a massive hunt across 98 percent of the black bear’s range putting this rare gene in grave jeopardy."

GET INVOLVED

• Sign a National Resources Defense Council letter urging British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell to end the trophy bear hunting and protect the rare Spirit Bear
  
• Watch an International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) video of orphaned bear cubs

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image: Jackmont