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Breaking News
Mychaylo Prystupa, CBC News: A new polar bear conservation centre at the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg puts the heat on Manitoba to do more about climate change, according to a polar bear biologist of 14 years.
Jennifer Miller, Whistler Question: Looking back over a year's worth of Whistler headlines, it's pretty clear what some of the top stories were in 2011: pay parking, sled dogs and the municipal election.
But those three attention-grabbing topics certainly weren't the only issues in what seemed to be a pretty newsy year - .............and a bad year for Whistler's black bears, including the death of local icon Jeanie, also grabbed a fair share of the headlines over the last 12 months.
Pique Newsmagazine: Voted the best of by Whistlerites in various categories.
Jennifer Miller, Whistler Question: Deaths due to human-bear conflict reach a 10-year high Wildlife
Photo by Sylvia Dolson / www.bearsmart.com
Longtime Whistler icon Jeanie, seen here at right with cub Jeanette earlier this year, was one of 14 bears killed so far in Whistler due to conflict. Another black bear was killed last week in Whistler after getting into conflict with people - marking the 14th bear to be destroyed by conservation officers so far this year. That's the highest number of conflict bears to be killed in a single year in Whistler in more than a decade, according to statistics kept by Sylvia Dolson, executive director of the local Get Bear Smart Society. The last time more bears were killed was 1999 when the year's total reached 19.
Clare Ogilvie, Pique Newsmagazine: Get Bear Smart hoping to fund two memorial programs for Jeanie the bear. Volunteers are stepping up to help several charity organizations in Whistler as the community draws together for the holidays. Already 1,400 volunteer hours have been registered through the SHARE Whistler campaign, which comes to an end Dec. 28.
Leah Batisse, Whistler Question: Every once in a while something happens that shakes everything I thought I knew about Whistler's heritage. Recently, the museum uncovered a revelation that has shaken me to the core. I'm sure by now you've heard the story of Myrtle Philip and the orphaned bear cub she raised named Teddy Bear. You've probably seen the photos of Teddy clinging to the legs of Rainbow Lodge guests or standing upright on his tiny legs. One photo in particular always caught my attention - a bear cub snuggled up in apparent contentment with a pig. The story always went that Teddy and the pig were best friends... until Teddy ate him. I admit there was never any historical evidence as to the validity to this tale, but I firmly believed and loved the story because it tickled my morbid funny bone. However, we received shocking news during an oral history interview with Norm Barr, who is the son of former Parkhurst Mill owners Ross and Alison Barr, that at one time there was another bear cub living in Alta Lake. This bear's name was Molly and her best friend was McGee - a piglet that had been bought by a young girl named Betsy (DeBeck) Henderson.
CBC News: A black bear captured on top of a garbage truck in downtown Vancouver was released back into the wild on Tuesday.
CBC News: Conservation authorities have successfully captured a black bear that had been standing on top of a garbage truck in downtown Vancouver.
Tessa Holloway, North Shore News: HOMEOWNERS who leave out garbage and other bear attractants could soon face fines from conservation officers thanks to a new amendment to the B.C. Wildlife Act. The amendment, passed Nov. 24, makes it illegal for a person to have anything that could attract dangerous wildlife to their property, mostly garbage, fruit or similar material. Mike Badry, a biologist with the Ministry of Environment, said the new rules will be used mostly on repeat offenders after there's been a problem with an animal.
ROB CHANEY of the Missoulian : The death of Brian Matayoshi in a grizzly bear charge last summer was a classic conundrum for the people who work toward the day bears and humans can share the northern Rocky Mountains. "We are providing education, but it's not being received," Chris Servheen told the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee at its winter meeting in Missoula on Wednesday. As coordinator for grizzly recovery with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Servheen keeps track of bear incidents throughout the Rocky Mountains. And this year's run-ins appear to show we have successful strategies to avoid conflict, but we're not using them.
By Kevin Maki, NBC News: The interagency grizzly bear committee is meeting in Missoula. Experts from the United States and Canada are exploring ways to ease pressures between grizzlies and humans.
Emily Jackson; The Star: Call them Canada's billion dollar bears. While it's no secret that polar bears have captured Canadians' hearts, they've apparently got us by the purse strings, too. Canadians would be willing to pay $6.3 billion per year - $508 per household - to ensure the polar bears do not disappear, according to a report commissioned by Environment Canada.
Michael Parfit, Globe and Mail : Humans perceive that animals have emotions that we can recognize - fear, pain, longing, loneliness. But, for generations, we have been told by scientists that any attempt to describe animal emotions in ways humans can understand is anthropomorphism and scientifically wrong-headed. This makes us feel guilty. When we respond to what appear to be emotions in our pets or in wild beings we meet, we feel as if we're engaging in illicit sentimentality.
Andrew Mitchell, Pique newsmagazine: Province to amend wildlife act - The province introduced a new amendment to the Wildlife Act on Monday, Nov. 14 that, if passed, could result in fines of $230 for "the mismanagement of attractants (such as food, compost and garbage waste) that could invite dangerous wildlife, such as grizzly and black bears, cougars, coyotes and wolves." The change was part of an omnibus bill by the Attorney General and is not yet law.
Letter to Editor, Pique newsmagazine: Reading the editorials and articles about Jeanie the bear and the circumstances leading up to her death paints a very disturbing picture (Pique Oct. 27). How is it possible that all the restaurants mentioned, which have been in this town for years are incapable of managing their food waste? Let's start with the biggest corporate entity here, Whistler Blackcomb. Two of its restaurants were "broken into" by Jeanie. How do you break into the Roundhouse or the GLC? Buildings with rock and steel cladding, steel fire doors and wire-reinforced glass? You don't.
Letter to Editor, Pique newsmagazine, Whistler Question: Once in awhile opportunities come along to do the right thing. A death is usually a time when you ponder life and make decisions about how and why a life was lived. Likely with the exception of a few, most people in Whistler have already moved on and forgotten Jeanie, one of Whistler's most photographed and celebrated bears, killed by Conservation officers a few weeks back. I think the troubling thing is that over the winter when the bears are asleep everyone will forget why she was killed. She was destroyed, as are many other bears every year, because she was repeatedly and consistently able to access waste and human food within the RMOW.
Pique newsmagazine: I find it hard to believe that Whistler has become a Bear Smart community. I know that there are a lot of people here in Whistler that have worked hard at this, but we couldn't be farther away from Bear Smart as we are right now. We just lost one of our most recognized bears a few weeks ago. A few weeks before we had a bear in a pizza shop and that shop is still open for business, no fine or temporary shut down to hurt the bottom line.
The Canadian Press: The majestic but vulnerable polar bear has been declared a "species of special concern" under Canada's Species at Risk Act.
Letter to Editor, PiqueNewsmagazine: Yes it's sad that yet another problem bear has been destroyed. "Jeanne is Gone" (Pique Oct.27). What is even sadder is that we created a situation where we publicly popularized, humanized, marketed and ultimately contributed to her death. This bear was exploited by the very people that wanted to protect her.
Andrew Mitchell, PiqueNewsmagazine: Cub will likely be released into the wild next summer. Jeanie the black bear's remains have been returned to the wilds of Whistler and her cub will one day return to the wild as well. Whistler's best known bear was destroyed by the conservation officer service on Oct. 21 after weeks of escalating human conflict that included breaking into occupied restaurants to get food. Jeanie's cub - named Jeanette after an informal poll on Jeanie's Facebook page - was sent to the Critter Care Wildlife Facility in Langley. The cub is being fed twice a day and is in a pen with five other bear cubs. Gradually feedings will be reduced to once a day, then every three days, and then every three weeks to encourage the bears to hibernate.
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