Band still upset over death of grizzly bear

By Grant Warkentin
The Mirror
Oct 18 2006

Bear shooting near fish farm is still being investigated by provincial

ministry of environment

The Homalco Indian Band is still upset about a grizzly bear shot in the band's territory earlier this month.

"They didn't have to kill it," said band Chief Darren Blaney. "It was disappointing to hear how they just went in and shot it."

A contractor employed by Marine Harvest shot and killed a grizzly bear near the mouth of Bute Inlet at the beginning of the month after the bear swam to a fish farm to feast on rotting fish. According to comments made after the incident by Clare Backman, Marine Harvest's enviroment and compliance manager, the bear was frightening fish farm workers as well as the crew of a boat brought in to take the rotting fish away, prompting the company to hire a hunter to protect the farm until the bear could be tranquilized and taken away.

But the hunter went ashore and shot the bear in self-defence before provincial conservation officers could arrive, Backman said.

Blaney doesn't believe it.

"It sounds like he went in and hunted it down," he said, suggesting the bear might have been acting defensively, making a false charge to try and make the hunter back off.

Backman expressed regret at the incident but Blaney said it should never have happened.

He said the farm was moved closer to shore because a plankton bloom was causing mortality among the farm's fish but after the bloom was over, the company didn't move the farm back. If the farm had been where it was supposed to be the bear would not have been able to swim to it, Blaney said.

"They're being investigated right now," he added.

The Homalco Indian Band's traditional territory is in and around Bute Inlet. The band operates a bear-watching and wildlife tour business out of Orford Bay in the inlet depends on bears for part of its livelihood.

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