Most visitors to Texada Island, a 30-mile sliver of land off the west coast of British Columbia, choose one of two main methods of arrival: a provincial ferry service with 10 daily sailings or a 3,000 foot air strip which welcomes the occasional chartered plane.<\/p>\n
But a four-year-old grizzly bear recently took a far more challenging route, braving strong currents and frigid water to swim nearly three miles across the Malaspina Strait.<\/p>\n
The exhausted young bear, named \u201cTex\u201d by locals, hauled himself ashore on 25 May, unleashing a fierce dispute between residents, conservation officers and First Nations over his future \u2013 and prompting a broader debate over the relationship between the Canadian province and its wildlife.<\/p>\n
Once a hub of logging and mining, Texada Island is now home to 1,200 residents and the one grizzly bear, who was last spotted just after sunset on 23 June.<\/p>\n
Before his odyssey, the four-year-old bear was known to conservation officers on the mainland, who had twice been forced to relocate him to avoid conflicts with human residents. On both occasions, he returned to urban areas within weeks.<\/p>\n
Before his swim, he was spotted breaking into fishing boats at marinas to access bait and once stalked two walkers on a trail.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people escaped by entering and remaining in the water for half an hour while the bear remained on shore circling back and forth,\u201d the conservation service said.<\/p>\n
Despite his somewhat checkered past provincial officials said in a statement that there is a no \u201ckill order\u201d on Tex. But, they added, \u201cif further behaviour by the grizzly bear occurs that threatens public safety, Conservation Officers will respond to those situations \u2026 It is our hope that it will not come to this, and the bear will move on independently.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nicholas Scapillati, head of the Grizzly Bear Foundation said that such behaviour is to be expected for a young male bear.<\/p>\n
Texada Island in Canada is home to 1,200 residents and the one grizzly bear, who was last spotted just after sunset on 23 June. Photograph: Erich Schultz\/Getty Images\/500px<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s on the move. He\u2019s curious. He\u2019s a young male out of hibernation who was likely pushed off out of his home range by his mom and is now looking for mates in a different genetic pool,\u201d Scapillati said. \u201cNow he\u2019s just exploring.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Tex\u2019s presence on the island has sharply divided residents, unaccustomed to apex predators on their bucolic island.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey should euthanize him if they aren\u2019t going to relocate him \u2013 he can\u2019t stay here, someone is going to get injured\/killed,\u201d wrote one resident on a local Facebook message board. \u201cIt\u2019s only a matter of time before something horrible happens. It\u2019s shocking that some people think this isn\u2019t a serious public safety issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
But others argue the young bruin hasn\u2019t harmed humans or livestock. Katrin Glenn-Bittner, a long time resident of the island who has spotted the bear twice on her farm, has offered to help fund any relocation of the bear to a remote part of the province\u2019s west coast. \u201cThere\u2019s no future here for him on Texada Island, because he\u2019s targeted, and if he makes a mistake \u2013 which may very well happen \u2013 he will be instantly destroyed,\u201d she told the Globe and Mail.<\/p>\n
A First Nations community has offered to re-home the bear, but the request was rejected by the province\u2019s conservation service, which said Tex\u2019s \u201chigh level of conflict history\u201d means he is \u201cnot a candidate for relocation\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Mamalilikulla First Nation says its Gwaxdlala\/Nalaxdlala Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) in Knight Inlet, 100 miles north of Texada Island, would be the ideal home for the young bear.<\/p>\n
The IPCA was established in 2022 \u201cbased on the ancient concept of \u2018Aweenak\u2019ola\u2019, which translates as \u2018we are one with the land, sea and sky and supernatural Ones and have a responsibility to care for all the beings.\u2019\u201d And bringing the grizzly to the territory also aligns with the nation\u2019s broader aim of restoring populations of a species they view as sacred.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now this grizzly bear is a ticking time bomb,\u201d John Powell, elected chief of Mamalilikulla First Nation, told the Times Colonist. \u201cI think inevitably the bear is going to run into a human or animal and it\u2019s going to have a negative engagement. Texada is not a big place \u2026 It\u2019s going to die there.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2019, British Columbia enacted legislation meant to harmonize its laws with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and it has signed a string of treaties or reconciliation agreements with nations in the province. The case of Tex represents a test of that new relationship, says Scapillati, whose foundation has worked with both First Nations and the province.<\/p>\n
In 2020, a male grizzly named Gatu appeared on the northern tip of Vancouver Island, and became too comfortable around humans. First Nations pleaded with conservation officers to come up with a proactive approach. Their request was ignored and the bear was shot and killed<\/a>. Months later, when another bear was spotted in the region, Mamalilikulla First Nation stepped in and requested it be moved<\/a>. The young grizzly was successfully translocated to an area on the mainland. At the time, the province\u2019s then minister of environment praised the result, saying the \u201cdesire for reconciliation\u201d with Indigenous peoples<\/a> helped guide the process.<\/p>\n \u201cIf First Nations want to look at how to handle these issues differently then the province has an obligation to talk to them and come up with a solution,\u201d said Scapillati. \u201cThis request to translocate Tex is going to open up a whole discussion over how to balance the wildlife policies of various First Nations with the province\u2019s wildlife policies,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s unique, it\u2019s exciting \u2013 and it could be a game changer for wildlife stewardship in the province.\u201d<\/p>\n Biologists remain convinced the bear can be moved safely.<\/p>\n