Your Edmonton Journal

B.C. starts grizzly bear rehabilitation program
Kate Webb, Vancouver Province
Published: 3:07 am

VANCOUVER - An orphaned grizzly cub is a rare sight. Even more rare is to see one rehabilitated and released back into the wild: it's only been done six times in B.C. history.

But on June 1, grizzly cub rehabilitation became the default policy throughout the province, thanks to a partnership between the B.C. Ministry of Environment and the Northern Lights Wildlife Society in Smithers.

The Grizzly Rehabilitation Pilot Project will place every suitable injured or orphaned grizzly cub in the care of one of the province's most experienced non-profit wildlife rehabilitation centres.
"I've been asking for grizzly rehab for a number of years and this year they agreed to do a pilot project," said Angelika Langen, owner and operator of the Northern Lights shelter. "If a (grizzly) bear becomes available anywhere in the province, they will come here."

Langen and her husband Peter have rehabilitated 124 bear cubs over the last 18 years, all black bears except for one Kermode bear.

But on June 25, Suzie, a seven-month-old grizzly cub, was found wandering alone close to Monkman Provincial Park, south of Tumbler Ridge. The conservation officer who spotted her had not seen her mother for several days, and suspected she was killed by poachers. He phoned Langen to see what could be done to save the orphaned cub.

Langen agreed to take her on. When the infant grizzly arrived at the shelter she was underweight and appeared frightened, but soon started looking for company.

In order to prevent her from focusing her attention on humans, the Langens placed Suzie with Tony, a seven-month-old black bear cub, and after some huffing and puffing the natural rivals quickly became inseparable.

"Both of them lost a sibling, and they've actually bonded and it's really cute to watch those two play," said Langen. "They're just like kids. They roll around on the ground and chase each other through the yard. In the wild they would be enemies."

Tim Irvin, a B.C. fish and wildlife policy analyst who worked on the pilot project agreement with Langen, said the work the shelter is doing is invaluable because very little is known about the feasibility of grizzly rehabilitation. The GRPP will utilize homing technology on grizzlies like Suzie after they are released to learn whether efforts to rehabilitate them have been successful.

"In Canada, to my knowledge, it's a unique project where there's a partnership with government to explore (grizzly) rehabilitation with the goal of assessing success using post-release monitoring," Irvin said.

"The public has had an increasing interest in rehabilitating bears in B.C., but we didn't want to just jump into it ... By partnering with Angelika we can take a very scientific approach to exploring if rehabilitating (grizzly) bears is feasible in B.C."

True to the circumstances at most wildlife shelters, there is a funding gap clouding the future of the project. The Ministry of Environment is contributing its expertise and possibly some equipment to the project, but no cash, and Langen's bills are adding up quickly.

The price tag to expand the shelter to accommodate grizzly cubs is a hefty $55,000, and it costs about $3,000 to feed and house each bear annually. So far $25,000 has been raised for the shelter expansion, and Langen says there is a lot of work to do. But she is encouraged by the fact that the province has finally taken steps to ensure grizzlies at risk have a chance to survive.

CanWest News Service

© The Edmonton Journal 2007