Skagway residents are mourning the loss of a "spirit bear" that enthralled them since it was a cub.

  (Photo courtesy of Andrew Cremata/Juneau Empire)  The white or light-colored black bears are also known as "glacier bears" and historically are of special importance to the Tlingit people of the area as well as other residents and visitors. In nearby Haines, school sports teams are named after glacier bears.

The local resident, who shot the bear despite a state regulation intended to protect it, not only won't be prosecuted but is soon to go home with the pelt.

Now, questions are being asked about who was to blame and whether the state did enough to protect a beloved bear.

"People here are extremely upset that the bear was shot and that they're returning the hide to this gentleman," said Jan Wrentmore, owner of Skagway's Red Onion Saloon.

The glacier bear was first spotted three years ago as a cub, tagging along behind a regular-colored black bear mother and with a standard-issue black bear sibling.  As it grew up, Wrentmore said, it became a fixture in the town of fewer than 1,000 residents.

"Children went on field trips to see this bear," she said. "It was not a garbage bear. It had just grown up here."

On June 9, police say, Skagway resident Thor Henricksen may have shot the bear.  Certainly Henricksen shot a bear, but was it the spirit bear?

The answer hinges on the coloring of the bear, and relevant state officials say they can't be sure the bear Henricksen took near Skagway's Dyea Road on that day was the "white" bear the regulations intended to protect.

Troopers seized a bear carcass from Henricksen and had it reviewed by Department of Fish and Game biologists. They determined that the bear was various colors, but concluded it was not a fully "white" bear.  "It was a multi-colored pelt," said Fish and Game's Ryan Scott.  "There was some black in it, some white color, some blond-cinnamon and some gray," he said.

The regulations protecting the "spirit" bear, passed by the Board of Game last year specifically to protect the Skagway bear at the request of the city of Skagway and local residents, refers only to a "white" bear.

"We could not definitely say this is or is not the same bear," Scott said.  That, said Lt. Todd Sharp of the Alaska State Troopers, means Henricksen can't be prosecuted and may have done nothing wrong.

"We weren't able to determine that it was a white-colored bear as the regulation states," Sharp said.  The bear is being held in storage and will be returned to Henricksen, he said.

Wrentmore has asked that Skagway residents be able to view the bear to see if they think it is the same bear. The carcass is now in a freezer in Juneau, but Sharp turned down a request from the Empire to view the bear.

"It doesn't belong to the state. It belongs to the person that took the bear," he said. "It has been determined that it was lawfully taken."

Henricksen took the bear in an area open to bear hunting, during an open bear hunting season, and the hunter possessed the necessary license to hunt and harvest bears, Sharp said.

Wrentmore thinks Henricksen took the Skagway glacier bear that the city had tried to protect, even though it was not completely white.  "It was never pure white. It was always creamy, with white ears," she said.

Scott agrees that the bear Henricksen took was likely the bear the city had tried to protect.  "I haven't heard anything about it being seen recently, it is potentially the same bear," he said. "Most likely, it is the bear."

Henricksen, an equipment operator for the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities in Skagway, was unavailable for comment.  A woman answering the phone at Henricksen's residence said he was unlikely to be willing to talk about the incident.  "I'm sure he's going to have no comment. It's been nothing but a nightmare," she said.

The regulations protecting the bear were put in place by the Board of Game as an emergency measure in August of 2007, and made permanent in November of that year for Unit 1D. They were modeled after a similar regulation in Juneau's Unit 1C, where taking white black bears was already banned.

Such bears are sometimes called white-phase black bears, and Wrentmore said that broader designation was what the Skagway citizens had originally sought. Had the regulation barred taking "white-phase" black bears, it might have protected the Skagway spirit bear, she said.

Scott said Fish and Game is trying to determine if something went wrong with its regulatory process.  "The regulation was intended for an individual bear," he said. "The bear we saw just did not meet the wording of the regulation," he said.  That doesn't mean it wasn't the same bear, however.  Bears change color over time, and this one wasn't white," Scott said.

"We are certainly discussing that internally with the troopers. It's in the forefront of our thoughts right now, what could be done differently," he said.

Wrentmore said something should have been done differently.  "There's lots of heartache here in town right now," she said.

Update 7/27/08:  Biologists with the Department of Fish and Game and the trooper involved in the investigation of the light-colored black bear shot in Skagway last month met with local residents in a public forum on July 17.

After being grilled by many in the audience, the state officials apologized that the so-called "Skagway Spirit Bear" was not protected better. They said they thought the regulation adopted by the Board of Game last fall was adequate - until the bear was shot.

Now there is concern that without a broader definition of a white-colored bear by the Board of Game, then a similar bear seen north of Juneau in Unit 1C also could be hunted legally.

There still has been no positive identification that the bear shot June 5 by Dyea Road resident Thor Henricksen was the "Spirit Bear" that was given protection at the request of the Municipality of Skagway. A team of biologists and troopers inspected the hide and compared it with photos submitted by several residents, but could not come to a conclusion, other than saying it was a light-colored cinnamon black bear. Henricksen was not at the meeting, but has said in media interviews that he thought it was a cinnamon bear, and shot it on his property because it was a possible threat to his family. He had a hunting license and the bear was taken in season. No charges were filed against him.

The fact that the "Spirit Bear" has not been seen since the shooting has many, including state officials, concluding that it was probably the bear that was intended to be protected.

At the meeting, Division of Wildlife Conservation biologists Ryan Scott and Neil Barten of Juneau said several officials were involved in viewing the bear that was shot. Fish and Wildlife Trooper Rick Merritt of Haines said they looked at the hide in several lighting conditions, both inside and outside.

"Bottom line, we could not call it white," Scott said. "It upsets a lot of people and makes a lot of people frustrated."

Merritt agreed, saying he could not call the bear "white," since it had multiple colors including cinnamon and black." He added that his job was to "enforce the regulation, and the regulation said a white-colored bear."

A photo of the bear taken by Barb Brodersen about a mile south of Henricksen's property on the day it was shot was circulated. It showed a mostly off-white bear with black ears and touches of blonde, cinnamon and black on its side and hindquarters. After looking at the photo, Merritt said he could not be 100 percent, but "the photo looks different than the hide I saw."

When asked by Mayor Tom Cochran who invited the officials to come up to Skagway, Scott said they did it on their own after it was suggested they come up. Former mayor Tim Bourcy, who helped draft the original letter of request for protection last June, said he made the call, and Scott said he volunteered.  "We could let it fester or we could talk about it," Scott said.

Jan Wrentmore passed out Bourcy's letter to the Board of Game, which specified protection for the "white-phase black bear" seen around Skagway since it was a cub in 2005. She said the Board of Game changed the language in the regulation to "white-colored."  "Nothing personal, but someone in the department needs to take responsibility for failing this bear and this community," she said.

Scott said he did not know how the wording got changed. He said the team of Fish and Game biologists offered no recommendation on the request, leaving it up to the Board of Game. An emergency 120-day regulation was put into place last August, and the board adopted a permanent regulation protecting the "white colored black bear" in Unit 1D at its Southeast meeting in November.

Several times during the meeting, Barten described the situation as an "allocation issue" that could only be addressed again by the Board of Game. A big problem inherent in the issue, he said, was the question, "Is it a white bear?", how they look in certain lighting conditions, and how they can change colors as they get older. He said they have heard that the Kermode bears in British Columbia have a broader definition, and they are checking into it.

Barten said anyone could petition the board for a change in regulation. Proposals are due Aug. 15 for consideration at the board's Nov. 7-11 meeting in Juneau.   He said he hoped the incident would not stop people from contacting him about fish and wildlife issues.

Reference:

Juneau Empire