Boo a cash cow?

Letter
Published: Friday, July 07, 2006

Bravo, Environment Minister Barry Penner, for clearly stating that Boo, the escaped grizzly, should remain free.

Few people realize that Kicking Horse and Grouse Mountain are sister ski resorts.

Both Grouse Mountain and Kicking Horse make money from their bears under the cover of being "Refuges for Endangered Wildlife."

The bears on Grouse Mountain have been described as "welcoming ambassadors." And people have been charged money at Kicking Horse for the privilege of seeing Boo "in the wild."

Translation: Forget the phony mission statement; the bears make us money.

Now that Boo is in the wild, their investment is clearly not paying off. Penner must have realized this cynical feature of keeping Boo in captivity -- and called the company's bluff.

Daniel McCaffrey,

West Vancouver