CAMPBELL RIVER, BC – A campsite north of Campbell River is closed indefinitely.
According to a notice from Recreation Sites and Trails BC, the site is closed for the time being. Sgt. Mike Newton with the Conservation Officer Service said they are advising site users to stay away due to a grizzly bear in the area.
“We want people to leave the bear alone, for the area to remain quiet. We want people to give it lots of space, and not approach it,” Newton said.
He said leaving the bear alone will reduce the potential for human-wildlife conflict, as well as reduce the possibility of it getting used to human presence.
“Don’t go there – we don’t want to have a conflict with it.”
Newton added the conservation service is asking people not to try to get pictures of the bear, even if they are in vehicles.
“We’re really trying to mitigate the possibility of it becoming habituated to human presence. We want it to be a quiet piece of wilderness right now, so the bear can do its thing and hopefully go back (where it came from).”
He said it’s rare to get grizzly bear sightings on Vancouver Island, but it does happen. The island is not an established grizzly bear habitat but sometimes a few of them come into town to forage for food.
Sometimes, they’re young males getting pushed out of their usual habitat along the mainland coast by other dominant males.
Newton said they walk around to find a quiet place, and then eventually go back to the mainland coast.
