Inviromental protection
...ons in the cubs can vary from normal black, to cinnamon, orange or white. The bears born white are the only ones protected from hunting under the current regulations. There is fact, only a very small population of white bears. It’s not often the gene is passed and a white bear is born. More often when two of the bears carrying the recessive gene mate, one of the other colors mentioned above, mostly the cinnamon color, will be born. Princess Royal Island is said to be the place where people are more likely to catch a view of these beautiful bears, while there are only 5 – 15 of them living on the island out of 135 or so black bears. Princess Royal Island is 147,000 hectares in size so with only 7% to 11% of the bear population being Kermodes, it is illegal to hunt them during black bear hunting season. There are also white bears in other areas of B.C., extending along the coast from Gribbell Island to Prince Rupert, Terrace and Kitimat and as far inland as Hazelton, although Princess Royal Island seems to contain the highest concentration of anywhere else in this range. The Kermode bears and black bears share the island of Princess Royal with black wolves, river otters, Sitka deer, eagles and many other smaller animals and insects. The Bears usually feed on the salmon, which come in the fall to the saltwater inlets, creeks and coves. When there is a draught, a lack of fish (mainly salmon) or just during the off seasons, the bears rely mostly on huckleberries for their food supply. The bears are in constant competition, during fall, with fish eating fellow animals living in the waters nearby. Some of them are the pacific white-sided porpoises, Steller’s sea lions, harbor seals, orcas and also humpback whales. Black bears, including Kermodes, catch salmon in their mouths, then pin the fish down with ...