Bears Matter

08/27/2026

By Gosia Bryja I’m glad to see my response to last week’s Nelson Star editorial published today, together with a great letter from a local community member.

Labels such as “habituated,” “food-conditioned,” or “loss of fear” are too often treated as enough to justify killing, without much scientific reasoning behind those decisions. More than a decade of peaceful coexistence can then be pushed aside once those labels take over, without a clear explanation.

It is not coexistence that is broken. It is a system that turns labels into justification for lethal action, reinforced by those with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.

Thank you to the Nelson Star for giving space to this discussion.

08/24/2026

Please sign if you agree ❤️🐻❤️

Justice for Wonder and Nell! Stop the unnecessary killing of gentle grizzly bears in BC

08/24/2026

❤️🇨🇦❤️

08/22/2026

Trawling must be discussed and changes must happen! 🥹

08/20/2026

Good News on the wildlife front today! Enforcement of a law outlawing ‘disturbing wildlife’ within a National Park!🙏👍💯 And no wildlife was killed in the process! Hopefully this will be the norm going forward and not a one off! 🙏🤞🙏

Google Article about Seattle couple with ‘two’ dogs off lease in Banff that they ‘filmed’ and received millions of views on two social media accounts! It was more than a ‘lapse in judgement’ …in my opinion ( Bears Matter)

CBC article in part ‘A woman who filmed a viral video of her off-leash dog metres from a grizzly bear was fined $1,500 after she pleaded guilty Wednesday morning in Canmore Court of Justice.

Brook Koski faced charges stemming from having an off-leash dog on a trail in Banff National Park.

A roughly 90-second video of the encounter, which was played in court, generated several million views after it was posted on TikTok. It showed Koski's husband Kraig with bear spray metres away from Grizzly Bear 142, a well-known female bear, yelling “back off” and “get out of here."

An off-leash dog runs between him and his wife, who is filming, as the grizzly walks along the trail and moves into the woods. The bear, which is the daughter of Bear 122 better known to many Albertans as The Boss, showed no signs of aggression.

Brook Koski tearfully apologized in court for her “lapse in judgement."

“We’ve learned our lesson,” Koski said of the incident.

Parks Canada charges hikers after grizzly bear run-in with off-leash dog in Banff National Park
Isaak Hurst, Koski's lawyer, said Koski was “distressed” during the incident and it was her first time in court. The two appeared online from Seattle, Wash.

Hurst said they wanted to be respectful of Canadian nature and wildlife, and noted there was “tremendous amount of hate being spit at my client” online.

He said the dog didn't attack the grizzly, Koski's husband acted calm and the encounter was a “master class in how to handle a situation with a grizzly bear approaching you.”

WATCH | 2 hikers and dog encounter grizzly bear in Banff National Park:

2 hikers and dog encounter grizzly bear in Banff National Park

July 24
|
Duration of video 0:14
A clip of a video posted to the TikTok account twohumanstwodogs shows a close grizzly bear encounter on a hiking trail in Banff National Park. Parks Canada has charged the two hikers because their dog was off-leash.
‘We need to co-exist with these animals’

Crown attorney Caroline Lirette said the encounter was “terrifying,” but it's “important for dogs to be on-leash to minimize and eliminate any potential for a negative bear encounter."

She said it’s up to visitors to learn rules when visiting national parks, calling the situation “a lapse in judgement."

“We need to co-exist with these animals,” Lirette said. Google title to read more

08/19/2026

🐺❤️🐕‍🦺 “Protect critical habitat for the Caribou! Stop killing wolves” Elizabeth May

We must raise our voices and howls so that Minister Randene Neill and her government hears us! She needs to know that 5 more ‘horrible killing’ years of culling wolves from helicopters ( after more than 10yrs already) is inhumane, unscientific and unacceptable to British Columbians! We need to protect old growth and the winter range of the Mountain Caribou!

08/15/2026

Nelson mother Grizzly also killed and her two remaining cubs have been relocated and being tracked by COS.
Tragic 💔😢news! Aug 15’26
Awareness Bear, BC FB Post

‘Nell’ was killed today. 💔
Nell was the mother of the yearling cub that was killed this week.
Nell was a known/resident bear for approximately 15 years; she had been relocated once with another set of cubs, but had returned to her home range.
The remaining two (traumatized) yearlings have apparently been ‘relocated’.

This makes me sick.

🐻

Statement fr:
B.C. Conservation Officer Service Update:
“Update on Nelson Grizzly Bears:

Conservation officers dispatched a sow grizzly bear in Nelson today to ensure public safety. Two yearlings associated with the sow were captured and released at an undisclosed location where they can continue to be monitored.

Over the past several weeks, the BC Conservation Officer Service (BCCOS) and the BC Wildlife Branch received multiple reports of grizzly bears frequenting the Nelson area.

The sow exhibited food-conditioned behaviour and a significant loss of fear of people, including repeatedly accessing residential properties and non-natural food sources such as fruit trees and barbecues, and regularly remaining in close proximity to people.

The BCCOS and the BC Wildlife Branch have monitored this sow and her offspring for several years and has worked proactively with the community to reduce human-wildlife conflicts through attractant management. In 2023, the sow and a previous set of offspring were relocated in an effort to keep wildlife wild and reduce public safety risks.

Given the bear's extensive food-conditioning and increasing comfort in residential areas, a second relocation was not considered a viable management option by the BC Wildlife Branch . An injured bear associated with this group was also dispatched under the recommendation of the BC Wildlife Vet.

We recognize this news will be upsetting for many people. The dispatching of any bear is an outcome that conservation officers, wildlife biologists, community partners, and residents work hard to prevent, and these decisions are never made lightly.

Wildlife response decisions were made in consultation with wildlife biologists from the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship.

Human-wildlife conflict is a shared responsibility of the government, residents and our visitors. Across British Columbia, unsecured attractants remain a primary driver of bear conflicts and the subsequent dispatch of bears. Securing attractants such as garbage, fruit and other food sources is the most effective way to help keep both people and bears safe.

For information on preventing human-wildlife conflicts, visit WildSafeBC. For information on how conservation officers respond to human-wildlife conflicts, please see the Province's wildlife conflict management policies.”




Photo of Mother Bear with Three Cubs - photo credit unknown

08/15/2026

Bear cub and mother put down in Nelson
Nelson Star Published 10:32 am Friday, August 14, 2026

By Emma Bolzner

Google title for content & photos.

People in Nelson protested against the killing of a yearling grizzly bear on Aug. 13 (Photo credit: Bix Burkhart)

After several weeks of monitoring a grizzly sow and three yearling cubs, the B.C. Conservation Service (BCCOS) was forced to euthanize the grizzly sow in the interest of public safety.

Two yearlings associated with the sow were captured and released at an undisclosed location where they can continue to be monitored, the BCCOS said in a statement.

The grizzly, along with her three yearlings, were recently spotted along Highway 6 between Nelson and Ymir.

One yearling, which had a a deformity or injury to the leg, was also put down by the BCCOS on August 12.

“Over the past several weeks, the BC Conservation Officer Service and the BC Wildlife Branch received multiple reports of grizzly bears frequenting the Nelson area,” said BCCOS’s social media statement.

“The BCCOS and the BC Wildlife Branch have monitored this sow and her offspring for several years and has worked proactively with the community to reduce human-wildlife conflicts through attractant management,” the statement said.

Back in 2023, the mother and her previous set of cubs were relocated to reduce public safety risks, according to the BCCOS.

In a statement on July 24, the BCCOS said there were no current concerns for the bear family’s well-being and that the yearling’s injury was already a year old.

However, more recently “the sow was exhibiting food-conditioned behaviour and a significant loss of fear of people, including repeatedly accessing residential properties and non-natural food sources such as fruit trees and barbecues, and regularly remaining in close proximity to people.

“Given the bear’s extensive food-conditioning and increasing comfort in residential areas, a second relocation was not considered a viable management option by the BC Wildlife Branch. An injured bear associated with this group was also dispatched under the recommendation of the BC Wildlife Vet.”

The BCCOS said that these wildlife response decisions were made in consultation with wildlife biologists from the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship.

“We recognize this news will be upsetting for many people,” the statement added. “The dispatching of any bear is an outcome that conservation officers, wildlife biologists, community partners, and residents work hard to prevent, and these decisions are never made lightly.”

Indeed, many people in the area were shocked and upset to hear the news of the euthanization of the yearling.

The incident has received backlash on social media and initiated a rally, which took place on Victoria and Stanley Street, on Aug. 13, to protest the decision to euthanize the bears.

Protestors held signs that read “we can co-exist,” “shame on Nelson” and “stop the killing of bears.”

Katie Graves, founder of the non-profit Ursa Project Society, a bear advocacy group, held the rally. Her non-profit organization promotes the co-existence between humans and bears.

Graves says she saw a lot of different emotions at the protest.

“There was a range of emotions from people who were feeling absolute sadness, despair, to anger and innovative ideas. People saying, ‘what can we do? How can we fix this?'” Graves said.

“This protest showed the amount of people who feel the same way and share in this absolute disdain for how things have been handled,” she said.

The City of Nelson also wants to remind residents to do their part with cohabitating with wildlife. These actions include picking fruit from one’s property, and securing garbage and removing attractants to reduce bears entering residential areas.

“The City has been helping our community by installing bear-resistant garbage bins, removing fruit trees from City-owned land, delivering public education programs and providing tools such as the FoodCycler to help reduce food waste and wildlife attractants,” the statement from the City of Nelson reads.

Graves says more needs to be done and each incident should be taken into account individually and by a case-by-case module.

“What the BCCOS is not considering, is the public outcry from them killing them, which is far greater than what they are seeing in their report calls.”

Graves wants more transparency within the BCCOS and their reasons for euthanizing the bear. This is something she sees as the only solution.

“We need transparency within the conservation. They work for us and we pay their salaries,” she said.