A creamy white bear cub playing with its black bear mom was caught on camera by a local guide in Whistler last week.
The cub was with a known resident black bear and spotted during a 6 p.m. tour, according to longtime bear researcher Michael Allen.
“After 23 years of research, I have seen cubs ranging black, reddish brown, chocolate brown to blonde (after summer bleaching of coat) but, never have seen in this population, a cub with pelage this light to almost white,” Allen wrote in his Whistler bear report.
He said the cub is not an albino, and the colour may be due to both parents having a recessive gene — which means it may be a Kermode or “spirit bear.”
A rare cream-coloured black bear cub is shown with its mother in the Whistler, B.C., area in this image provided by Whistler Blackcomb on Thursday June 2, 2016. Bear biologists are trying to demystify the genetic makeup of a rare cream-coloured black bear cub spotted near the resort community of Whistler, B.C. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Whistler Blackcomb-Arthur De Jong
Sgt. Simon Gravel of the Conservation Officer Service’s Squamish office said the cub has been seen several times around Whistler.
“There is a bit of a threat to this bear,” Gravel said Friday. “It’s a special bear and will attract a lot of attention.
“The biggest threat to him is human curiosity.”
A rare cream-coloured black bear cub is shown with its mother in the Whistler, B.C., area in this image provided by Whistler Blackcomb on Thursday June 2, 2016. Bear biologists are trying to demystify the genetic makeup of a rare cream-coloured black bear cub spotted near the resort community of Whistler, B.C. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Whistler Blackcomb-Arthur De Jong
Gravel urged people to avoid approaching the cub — or any bear — to keep them wild. Local guiding companies follow protocols which prevent close encounters.
“Don’t follow the cub or try to approach it to get a selfie. It’s absolutely a bad thing for bears to get comfortable with humans.”
A couple of weeks ago, another Whistler tour company photographed a pair of grizzly bears at the Whistler Olympic Park in the Callaghan Valley.
Jason Coleman, a guide with Whistler Photo Safaris Ltd., spotted the bears on May 29.
