Further to my blog post of July last year about Grizzly bears starting to arrive on Vancouver Island for the first time, I read an interesting article in the Spring 2009 edition of British Columbia magazine this week. It appears that more grizzlies were spotted over the summer and that instead of trapping and shooting them, like I thought would happen, the grizzlies will be a protected species on Vancouver Island. The population of black bears are certainly not going to like the intrusion onto their territory but wildlife experts say that because this appears to be a natural phenomonon, we should just let nature take its course for now and review any problems that may arise as they arise.

I can’t post the British Columbia magazine article, but here’s a December 2008 Vancouver Sun article on the same topic:

Vancouver Sun Article

I found it very interesting to note that grizzly bears have mated with polar bears in the past, but not ever with black bears. Considering black bears and grizzly bears live in close proximity to each other in areas like the Kootenays I thought that some cross-breeding would have occurred.