Kermode Bear Killed
A white colored black bear near Skagway, Alaska. These white colored bears are also known as Kermode, Spirit or Ghost Bears.
Certainly one of my highlights last summer was spotting and photographing this rare bear. You may have remembered me writing about it here: Spirit Bear. The local residents were so excited to have such a rare bear around, that they lobbied and convinced the State Board of Game to pass a law protecting the taking of a white black bear.
Last Saturday, the Anchorage Daily News reported that someone named Thor Henricksen allegedly killed this popular bear on June 9 during the spring black bear hunting season. Black bears are extremely prevalent in Alaska, there probably hundreds in just the Skagway area alone - why someone would kill this particular bear is absolutely beyond me!
To add insult to injury, the paper also reported that “state biologist determined that the bear that was shot was not fully white and therefore not protected under the regulation” Clearly the intent of the regulation was to protect this bear - sounds like Thor may be friends with some state biologists! Not surprisingly, the state has refused to allow the hide to be viewed by reporters from Juneau Empire.
It would be interesting to read the local Skagway paper - this bear was pretty much the main story in town when I was there last year, I bet it is again for an entirely different reason.
June 30th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Ron,
You are really fortunate to have captured a photo of this bear. It could become a very valuable photo, since they are rare and now there are even fewer of them!
Sherri
June 30th, 2008 at 11:28 am
That is so sad. I hope environmental activists will make life interesting for that hunter. What a jerk.
June 30th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Unfortunately, I think you are right Sherri!
Hi Della,
I have a feeling a lot of people aren’t real happy with this guy right now, and not just environmental activists. Even some fellow black bear hunters won’t be pleased because it prefects poorly on the sport.
Thanks,
Ron
June 30th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
That is appalling to find out Ron. I can’t see how people can take pleasure in killing something as cute as this.
July 1st, 2008 at 6:53 am
>> why someone would kill this particular bear is absolutely beyond me
July 1st, 2008 at 6:53 am
::: why someone would kill this particular bear is absolutely beyond me :::
Trophy? Isn’t it always the case?
Why someone would kill ANY bear is absolutely beyond me, Ron. I hope life gets very interesting for this particular “hunter”.
July 1st, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Trophy, or maybe just being a jerk.
July 1st, 2008 at 4:31 pm
The bear Thor Henricksen shot was on June 5, 2008 at four o’clock in the afternoon on his property and acting aggressive. It was NOT a Kermode bear or a Glacier Bear, both actually a subspecies of a Black Bear. A Glacier Bear is actually legal to hunt in our area. Thor is not a trophy collector or does he care to hunt bear.
The Kermode Bear is known as a “Spirit Bear” and lives hundreds of miles from where Thor shot the “Bear”. Kermode, a black bear subspecies, ranges from Prince Royal Islands to Prince Rupert Island on the coast of central British Columbia and inland toward Hazelton, British Columbia. Canada. That the bear Thor shot reached national news, with misinformation from the beginning is ridiculous. I believe neighbors were feeding that bear so it would come back and made a “nuisance bear” out of it, which lead to its demise.
While it is interesting to view bears, they are neither safe or cute, they are a preditor. A bear just mauled and seriously injured a girl riding her bike in a park in Anchorage, Alaska. I know from personal experience that even a cub bear is no adversary for a person. Having a bear greeting you when you open your door or having them invade your home is not a pleasant experience. I have no children, but my neighbors do and the children cannot play outside when bears are roaming the country unless you want to use them for bear bait.
July 1st, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Hi Irene,
Thank you for taking the time to write a detailed response. It was not only a detailed response, but a mature, unemotional response, and not an angry, name calling one that I would have expected from most people given what I had written, and the follow up comments.
It is unfortunate to hear that your neighbors were possibly feeding the bear. There is certainly plenty of truth to the phrase “A fed bear is a dead bear” Clearly once a bear learns to expect food from humans, their behavior can change, and it is very possible that if it wasn’t Thor, someone else may have had to result to the same response. It is nice to hear it wasn’t taken as a trophy.
No question bears can be very dangerous. But I should point out, the girl mauled in Anchorage was riding a bike, by herself, along a salmon stream in the middle of the night, and was attacked by a Grizzly that authorities believed may have had a cub. I really don’t equate that to a seeing 3 or 4 year old black bear at 4:00 in the afternoon, while evidently being armed, and with the possible safety of a home nearby.
As far as the type of bear goes, I’m really not qualified to to say. I’m trying to remember where I originally heard it identified as a Spirit or Kermode bear - I know I didn’t make that up, I am fairly certain that identification was from the Skagway newspaper. I have always associated Sprite Bears with the central coast area of British Columbia, but I didn’t realize this was the full extent of their range. The white colored bear in Skagway definitely wasn’t an albino. It would be interesting to learn if it’s DNA matches that on it’s southern counterparts, or if it was just some kind of abnormality.
I know you are saying it wasn’t a Spirit Bear, but was the bear Thor killed the white colored bear that had been seen around Skagway the last few years? There seems to be a lot of speculation about this, but not a clear answer.
You must understand, seeing that bear was one of the highlights of my trip down to Southeast last summer, and even if the situation was justified, and unavoidable, it is still unfortunate.
Thanks again Irene,
Ron
July 7th, 2008 at 8:26 am
What a very sad, sad day!! Great picture, Ron. The jerk knew what he had!!
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