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| On July 18th, 2
orphaned twin black bear cubs where finally
caught and brought to Critter Care after spending
close to three weeks on their own trying to
survive, but without much success, after the
tragic shooting of their mother. Here is their
story as told by the property owner who had
found the mother and had watched her and her
cubs frolic and forage for food on his property
for months prior to this senseless slaughter. |
| “We first
seen the bear that our neighbourhood would know
as Boo Boo or just Boo in the Spring of 2002
roaming with her mom and sibling through the
rural forested area on Burke Mountain in north
east Coquitlam. Right from 6 months old it was
clear she was more curious than her sibling
always investigating our sons toys and playset.
Our 6 acres is on a dead end street backing
onto thousands of acres of forest. It is very
common for us to look out the window and enjoy
the sight of wildlife passing through our property
but when it was Boo passing by she always had
to stop |
 |
and go down the
slide or run and do a belly flop into the pond
on a hot day. If she got too close to the house
we would honk an air horn and soon we only had
to hold up the horn and show it to her and she
would move back to the forest edge.
As with all cubs she left her mom and sibling
at 1 ½ years old but stayed within 1
kilometer of our area never going down the hill
to the residential neighbourhood below where
many bears got food conditioned to garbage.
In the Spring of 2005 she spent 2 weeks with
a chocolate colored male and we knew the following
spring we would be seeing cubs. This was a trouble
free year for her with a good berry crop and
by the fall she reached 300 lbs. A couple of
days before Halloween she disappeared into her
winter den. We were anxious for Spring to arrive
to see her new cubs and finally on May 18th
she came by briefly with 2 cubs, one boy and
one girl. |
Bella
Burke |
Many residents of Burke Mountain
enjoyed seeing these bears over the next month
but unfortunately one resident had no tolerance
for any wildlife eating his berries. On the
weekend of Critter Cares Open House I found
Boos body along with a deer and raccoon. Conservation
Officers investigated but did not find enough
evidence to charge anyone. The cubs were roaming
on their own for nearly 3 weeks before I could
find them and have the Conservation Officers
move them to Critter Care. The female cub was
going down hill fast and would not have survived.
At their new home she quickly recovered and
was named Bella and her brother named Burke. It’s unfortunate that urban bears only
live 3-5 years before they come into conflict
with man while wild bears can live 15-20 years.
Garbage is the number 1 cause of conflicts but
in this case it was a selfish person, thankfully
we have a great place like Critter Care and
its staff who do care.”
Drake Stephens |
