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Breaking News
Letter to Editor, Whistler Question: I was and am still feeling much despair after learning the news of Jeanie's death, and that her baby cub had to be taken away from the greatest love of her little life. How terribly sad. Just before hibernation too. I have lived here now for seven years, and each year it has become more and more taxing to learn of how many bears are ending up dead due to careless drivers or garbage/human food being left accessible by us humans.
Letter to Editor, Whistler Question: Thank you for your recent article on Jeanie the bear. I have become increasingly saddened and disgusted by the "bear management" activity in the Sea to Sky. It seems to me that the conservation officers are too quick to pull out their guns, and although the say they have attempted to "relocate" the bears, ultimately their efforts are not good enough, and they do not adequately target all the stakeholders who need to be involved in bear management. If we keep shooting bears when they search for food, we are missing the point, which is to create a community that coexists with animals in their natural habitat.
Letter to Editor, Whistler Question: One of Whistler's most well-known and loved iconic tourist attractions has been shot and killed in the name of human safety. Shame on Whistler! Will the resort just create another Jeanie and another? My sincere wish for Whistler and its wildlife is that the powers that be finally have bear-proof dumpsters installed every 15 or so homes for daily use by both residential and commercial residents like Canmore has had since the '90s. Canmore rarely kills a bear since they installed dumpsters everywhere and they have one of the lowest budgets for waste disposal of any community.
Whistler Question: Whistler's Bear Aware coordinator is issuing a plea to local residents, business operators and visitors to increase efforts to secure garbage and other attractants, as local bears have been getting into garbage and even eating Halloween pumpkins in an effort to gain weight for winter.
Sylvia Dolson, Get Bear Smart Society, Whistler Question : Jeanie was laid to rest in the favourite part of her home range last Wednesday (Oct. 26). A blanket of snow now covers her final resting place and a large rock marks her grave. Her daughter, Jeanette (so named by Jeanie's Facebook fans), is being cared for at Critter Care Wildlife Society in Langley. According to Critter Care's website, after her arrival to the shelter on the evening of Oct. 20, staff put Jeanette in a nice warm shed with food and water. After such a traumatic day, Jeanette did exactly what staff wanted her to do - she ate, drank and slept.
PiqueNewsmagazine: West Vancouver-Sea to Sky MLA Joan McIntyre used the killing of Jeanie the black bear to draw attention to the importance of the Bear Smart program this week in the legislature. "For several weeks I have been planning to congratulate residents and community leaders in three Sea-to-Sky communities for achieving the Bear Smart designation," said McIntyre, who has viewed Jeanie feeding in the alpine. "So you can imagine my shock and horror to see the recent headlines about the death of Whistler's most famous photogenic bear, Jeanie. This just serves to dramatically underscore the importance of programs to reduce human-bear conflicts."
Clayton Dowling, Whistler, Pique Newsmagazine: To borrow a line from Mark Twain, "The reports of my attack have been greatly exaggerated." I feel an obligation to the efforts of bear awareness advocates to recount this tale as it happened for all to read so you'll know.
Clare Ogilvie, Pique Newsmagazine: A heavy bar has finally been welded across the garbage-room door at one village eatery so bears can't get in and slather up oil and other human-rejected food that is oh so irresistible to the ursine creatures we share this valley with. Sadly it seems to have taken the killing of one of Whistler's most beloved bears, Jeanie, for this action to be taken. Don't get me wrong - I'm not just blaming the eateries that Jeanie targeted in her last few weeks of life for her ultimate demise-I'm laying the blame on the whole community.
Andrew Mitchell, PiqueNewsmagazine: After three weeks of conflict behaviour conservation officer Chris Doyle said there was little choice left but to destroy Jeanie. She was caught in a trap by the conservation office service, tranquilized and then killed with a gunshot. Her cub was sent to the Mountain View Wildlife Conservation centre in Langley for rehabilitation and will eventually be released back into the wild on Whistler Mountain.
Axel Friedrich, PRINCE GEORGE: Dear Editor: I would like to express my sympathy to the community of Whistler concerning Jeanie's death......
Katherine Fawcett, Get Bear Smart Society, Whistler Question: Jeanie, the black bear who captured the hearts of both Whistler locals and international tourists, was more than a beloved icon. She was more than a beautiful but tolerant model for thousands of keen photographers, more than a protective and loving mother bear and more than a 250-pound "problem." True, she has been labelled all of the above, but the legacy she leaves will be more all-encompassing. Jeanie will be remembered for what she taught us.
Jennifer Miller, Whistler Question: The death of Jeanie, Whistler's most famous black bear, last week is a "great loss for the whole community" - and one that was preventable, according to a local bear expert who spent 15 years watching and photographing the beloved animal.
By Sean Sullivan, National Post and Vancouver Sun: VANCOUVER-The most famous bear in Whistler, B.C., is dead after being shot by a conservation officer. Jeanie the black bear, known for a triangle-shaped patch of white fur on her chest, a camera-friendly personality and an astonishing number of cubs in her 20-some years at the ski resort community, was killed on Friday after weeks of escalating conflicts. "We've managed this bear for quite a long time, but the type of conflict she and her cub were engaging in most recently was definitely a threat to public safety and beyond reasonable limits," Insp. Chris Doyle of the BC Conservation Officer Service said.
Petti Fong, The Star: VANCOUVER-For years Jeanie the bear was the prized backdrop for tourists snapping photos in Whistler. Instantly recognizable by the white patch on her chest, Jeanie was comfortable with humans and was rewarded by lots of attention and sometimes even food. But over time, Jeanie became increasingly aggressive. Conservation Insp. Chris Doyle said she had to be moved out of the village and back into the mountains at least six times to limit her interaction with humans.
CBC News Vancouver: Video: A beloved Whistler, B.C., bear was shot after conservation officers say she lost her fear of humans, the CBC's Bob Nixon reports.
Sean Sullivan And Ian Austin, The Province: Whistler is in mourning for its most famous bear - killed by a conservation officer. Jeanie had brightened many a tourist's day, and even became an Internet sensation through YouTube videos frolicking on a glacier with her young cubs. But the celebrity bruin developed a taste for gourmet Whistler restaurant food, and the photogenic Whistler icon is no more. "People in Whistler have been following her for at least 15 years," said Sylvia Dolson, who befriended the photogenic bruin when she moved to Whistler.
CTVNews.ca Staff: The most famous bear in Whistler, B.C. has been shot dead by a conservation officer after weeks of aggressive behaviour. Jeanie the black bear, known for the iconic patch of white fur on her chest, was shot last week after being caught in a trap and tranquilized. Her cub was sent to the Critter Care Wildlife rescue centre in Langley for rehabilitation. Jeanie has been seen around Whistler for about 20 years and had been moved several times by conservation officers in recent years to an area along the edge of Whistler's boundaries.
Alexandra Zabjek, Edmonton Journal: If you're hiking in the foothills near Hinton, you might find deep dents in the soil, accompanied by the scrapes of a paw.
Make that a grizzly-bear paw. In spring and fall, the bears dig in the foothills and nearby alpine areas in search of a nutritious root that a University of Alberta graduate student hopes could help researchers identify important habitat for the bears, which were designated a threatened species in Alberta last year.
KRTV.com: An adult female grizzly bear was shot and killed on Saturday after charging a pair of Kalispell elk hunters and injuring one of them near the Continental Divide about four miles south of Marias Pass on U.S. Highway 2.
Anthony Willits, 31, and Gregory Louden, 29, had earlier in the day shot a bull elk, taken out a portion of the meat, and were returning to the carcass when they encountered the sow and two cubs.
The men reported that as the sow grizzly charged them they shot it once before it bit Willits in the lower left leg below the knee. Louden shot the bear three more times, killing it.
Evan Duggan, Vancouver Sun: A poor food supply combined with more public awareness has translated into more complaints about black bears across B.C., but fewer euthanized and relocated bears.
There were nearly 17,600 complaints about problem black bears this past spring and summer, according to data provided to The Sun by the B.C. Ministry of Environment. In 2010, there were 17,625 calls. In both years, the number of calls far exceeded the 15-year average of 12,550.
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