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Refuge for Boo the breakout bear set to reopen
B.C. resort boosts security at bruin exhibit
Kerry Williamson, Calgary Herald
Published: Sunday, May 20, 2007

His desire snipped and his wanderlust curtailed, Boo the bear will emerge from his public exile next month.

And this time his captors are taking no chances.

Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, near Golden B.C., will reopen its controversial summer grizzly bear operation in late June, a year after five-year-old grizzly Boo twice made a dash for freedom and the love of a good sow.
Boo the grizzly bear escaped twice from his enclosure at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort near Golden, B.C., last year. The resort plans to reopen the attraction next month.View Larger Image View Larger Image
Boo the grizzly bear escaped twice from his enclosure at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort near Golden, B.C., last year. The resort plans to reopen the attraction next month.
Herald Archive, Getty Images

The refuge remained closed following Boo's two high-profile breakouts, both for the protection of the public and the stressed out bruin.

It will reopen June 29 -- this time with higher fences, more electrical strands and an admission that the resort's rehabilitation and release program needs to be re-evaluated.

"We really feel the probability of him escaping is quite low, we feel he really has no incentive to leave," said Kicking Horse spokesman Michael Dalzell. "The bear lives in the largest enclosed bear habitat in the world, and I think he's pretty content in there . . . except for that one thing."

That one thing is lust, and it made Boo more famous than your average bear. In early June 2006, the male bruin dug under a fence and headed deep into the B.C. wilds, disappearing for almost three weeks.

He was spotted travelling with a sow.

The romance ended when Boo was shot with a tranquillizer dart and returned to his enclosure. But just a day later he did the near-impossible, smashing his way through a 180-kilogram steel door, two electric fences and over a 3.6-metre fence reinforced with 60 centimetres of steel beneath the ground.

Two weeks later he returned of his own volition, wandering back to his enclosure looking underweight and tired.

His adventures sparked heated debate on Boo's future, and on what should be done with captive or orphaned bears. Boo was orphaned in 2002 when his mother was illegally shot by a hunter along the Barkerville Highway in the B.C. Cariboo.

Critics said Boo should be left to his own devices in the wild, while others said he was ill-prepared for freedom and stood a better chance in captivity. The B.C. government eventually decided to keep him at Kicking Horse.

Barbara Murray, of the Golden-based Bear Matters group, was last year hopeful Boo could make a go of it in the wild. Now, she said his fate is sealed.

"He's a captive animal. Regardless of what they do, it's a commercial captive animal enclosure and he has to obviously make money for them," said Murray.

"He should be monitored and any stress that he shows should be dealt with, but it's still an enclosure. It's just unfortunate -- I don't like to see any wildlife in captivity."

Ellen Zimmerman, of the B.C.-based Wildsight group, said Boo could still play an important role in helping other bears.

"He's never going to be released into the wild, so if he has enough space to get away from people when he needs to, and if they can use this as an opportunity to educate people, that's probably the best outcome," she said, "but it is a zoo -- it's not a refuge."

Dalzell said some thought was given to closing the summer grizzly program to the public on a permanent basis.
"We didn't want to do anything that was going to compromise the safety of the public or the bear," said Dalzell.

"We spent all last summer doing a really solid analysis and review of our program and we felt like we have made the right moves here in terms of capital investment to mitigate the risk, and to ensure that we are not going to have any problems in the future."

The resort has increased the height of the fence surrounding Boo's enclosure, from 1.8 metres to 2.4 metres. Strands of electrical fencing have been doubled, and underground steel plating beneath the fence now continues 1.2 metres down to bedrock.
The fencing project, thought to have cost at least $150,000 this year, will be done in two phases, with completion expected next year. Boo has also been fited with a GPS tracking system collar.

He was neutered last summer, following his romantic exploits.

"We have made some specific enhancements to ensure public safety and the safety of the bear," said Dalzell, adding Boo emerged from hibernation in late March and appears healthy.

"He is being monitored on a continual basis by refuge staff since he's been out, since he's woken from his winter slumber. He has shown no signs of distress."

While Boo will remain a captive bear, his antics last year may help other young, orphaned bears.

The Kicking Horse Country Grizzly Society was recently registered, with the aim of bringing together stakeholder groups and bear experts to create a viable rehabilitation and release program.

There are just two groups in Western Canada that are releasing bears back into the wild -- Leona Green, in Dawson Creek, last week released two grizzlies back into the wild with the help of the B.C. government.

The group hopes to involve Parks Canada and other wildlife organizations, and could set up a non-commercial refuge program somewhere in the B.C. back-country.

"We have a solid vision in terms of where we want to get this, but now we have to really sketch out a road map on how to get there, which we are doing now," said Dalzell.

"And we are not going to be able to do it alone."

Murray said that admission is a good sign. She said that if the resort is prepared to work with people already involved in the rehabilitation of bears, some good could still come from Boo's story.

"It's already being done, we don't want to reinvent the wheel here," she said. "But I really will be delighted if they work with those people who are already doing it."

kwilliamson@theherald.canwest.com

© The Calgary Herald 2007