The Vancouver Sun
Dear Editor,

Once again we hear from the Director of Kicking Horse Wildlife Refuge and Grouse Mountain Wildlife Refuge that they would like to magically become bear rehabbers over night!

These two facilities have no experience in bear rehabilitation and release. Since 2001 the BC government has bequeathed 4 of our precious orphan grizzly cubs to these facilities to care for. One of the cubs, Cari at Kicking Horse was found dead in it’s den when the den was opened in April 2004. The animals that presently reside at Grouse Mountain Ski Resort and Kicking Horse Ski Resort are all captive wildlife and will not be released into the wild, ever. In September another of this year’s orphan female grizzly cubs is slated to go from Edmonton Zoo to Kicking Horse. She will be sterilized before joining their now lone male cub, Boo so that they can co-habitat at the facility for life. Funny, there was no discussion of rehabbing this cub when it was found in Grande Prairie back in March when it would have been a perfect rehab candidate?

Why would the director, Ken Macquisten offer to shelter and protect these three older cubs and then release them into the wild? It does not make good business sense for either ski resort to take on such an expensive undertaking without long-term profit?

Also according to Leona Green, a long-time successful, non-profit bear rehabber in Dawson Creek; “These Banff orphans should be closely monitored by the authorities and then if necessary captured and held over the winter for rehabilitation until the spring. Green says the cubs could indeed have all the instincts they need to survive in the wild on their own! She states that Parks Canada is doing exactly the right thing by monitoring them in the Banff Park where they call home. Green of Hillsprings Wildlife Centre has successfully rehabbed 100+ black bears and 2 grizzly bear cubs over the past 20 years without mishap. Another BC Bear Rehabber, Angelika Langen agrees wholeheartedly with Green and says ‘leave the cubs alone’ unless it is absolutely necessary to capture, transport and rehab them.

So let’s hope the exploitation of these orphaned cubs does not happen by any organization claiming to want to do the ‘right’ thing. Life is especially rough in Alberta for grizzlies these days when their numbers are less than 700 and declining. ’Please Parks Canada look out for these orphans and let them grow up wild and free!’

Barbara Murray

BC Bear Advocates
murrlaw@shaw.ca
North Vancouver

The Vancouver Sun article:
GOLDEN - The head of two grizzly refuges in British Columbia is taking issue with a Parks Canada decision not to trap three young orphaned grizzly bears in Banff National Park.

The cubs have been on their own since their mother, a 10-year-old sow known as Bear No. 66, was hit by a freight train Friday while feeding on berries on the Canadian Pacific Railway line about eight kilometres east of Castle Junction, Alta.

Ken Macquisten, a veterinarian and director of both the Kicking Horse refuge, near Golden, and the Grouse Mountain Wildlife Refuge, says the Kicking Horse refuge could shelter the orphan cubs while they mature and then possibly be the first organization to successfully reintroduce captive grizzlies back into the wild.

"The mother's job is to protect the cubs from other predatory male bears, cougars and wolves, and to teach the cubs survival skills they don't inherently know on their own," Macquisten said. "The survival rate of cubs of a year without their mother is very slim."

According to Macquisten, it may be possible to place young cubs in a large remote area surrounded by electric fencing that would allow them protection from predators while minimizing human contact.

© The Vancouver Sun 2005