A black bear sow and her three cubs captured and moved into a shelter in Smithers last month have been released back into the wilderness.
In an unusual scenario, the sow wasn’t destroyed after a dog discovered her den just 50 feet from a residence in Prince George.
Instead, she was tranquilized and moved along with her three cubs to the Northern Lights Wildlife Society in Smithers, the first time the shelter had to take in an entire bear family.
On Thursday, the bears were released back into the wilderness in a remote area near Prince George.
“It’s been a real honour and an incredible experience to be able to help put them back into the wild,” says shelter manager Angelika Langen.
Langen says the sow and her cubs were put into a separate enclosure with minimal interaction from staff.
The shelter, which normally cares for orphaned bear cubs, had to make some changes to accommodate the family.
“When we have baby bears, they see us as the ‘mom.’ And that does not necessarily have a negative impact on them, but when you teach an adult bear that humans are ok to have around, that can be a problem.”
For the entire month, the sow’s enclosure had to be shielded with metal sheets from any human activity, and every effort was made to make sure she did not get habituated.
“It all had to be kind of invented because we have never done this before,” says Langen.
After the sow woke up from her hibernation and the cubs grew stronger, the decision was made to reintegrate them back into the wild as soon as possible.
Langen says she was impressed with the cooperation they received from the conservation officers.
But she does not envision that this kind of rehabilitation will become a common practice going foward.
“This was a very unusual situation. It was a bear that had absolutely no record of conflict with humans. Her den was close to a human dwelling, but she was a ghost and was not seen,” says Langen. “I don’t think this is going to be a sweeping change to policies, but at the very least, it gave her a chance.”
Conservation officer Gary Van Spengen says it is hard to say whether the case sets a precedent for their conservation efforts.
“I have been a conservation officer for 25 years, and I have never had a situation like this,” he says. “Every case is different, and there are always so many variables.”
Van Spengen says they did not have any reports of the sow being a nuisance to people in the area and that played a big role in their decision to give her another chance.
“As soon as bears go through the human habituation process, which does not take very much, they are not candidates for relocation.”
PHOTO GALLERY: The sow and cubs in the care of the Northern Lights Wildlife Society
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