The Conservation Officer Service is asking the public to help find a grizzly bear named Jewel who has not been seen since October 2012 and is presumed dead.
Jewel is special because she is one of six females of the highly threatened Stein-Nahatalatch grizzly bear population, unique due to their genetic isolation, and is considered to be very valuable to ongoing studies of the bears.
She was fitted with a radio collar, and last year was relocated to the Texas Creek area south of Lillooet.
Jewel was being monitored through a joint effort of the St’at’imc Government Services (St’at’imc First Nation), the Foothills Research Institute and the Ministry of Environment. Her last known location was in her home range south of Lillooet last October. This past June, Jewel’s radio collar was found by a survey crew near Texas Creek. The Conservation Officer Service believes that someone illegally killed Jewel and they are now seeking the public’s assistance in identifying the person/persons responsible.
If anyone has any information about Jewel or the circumstances surrounding her disappearance, they are asked to call the Report all Poachers and Polluters (RAPP) line at 1-877-952-7277 or report online at: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/cos/rapp/form.htm
The BC Wildlife Federation pays rewards up to $2,000 for information leading to the conviction of persons who have violated laws related to the protection of fish, wildlife or the environment.
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