Man Captures Photo of Rare Spirit Bear in Canada Where Only 400 of Its Kind Exist

Spirit bears are white or cream due to a rare gene variation responsible for melanin production

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Published on February 20, 2020 03:16 PM

This photographer recently had a bear-y lucky encounter while fishing in British Columbia, Canada.

Last October, Steven Rose came across a spirit bear — a rare white bear with an estimated 400 or less of its kind left in the wild — while exploring the Great Bear Rainforest, according to Discover Wildlife.

Rose was able to capture several shots of the animal in its habitat as the bear caught hold of fish and moved through a shallow river.

“The bears can be seen cleverly digging up the eggs laid by the salmon by clawing away the sand on the riverbed to expose the eggs, then gulping them up,” Rose told the Daily Mail about his stunning photos.

According to Discover Wildlife, a spirit bear — or a Kermode bear — is a subspecies of the North American black bear. This uncommon animal is not albino, rather the species has a rare gene variation that causes them to be white or cream in color.

PIC BY Steven Rose / CATERS NEWS (PICTURED a spirit bear in British Columbia, Canada ) A rare bear bear has been caught fishing for his dinner in a shallow river. Steven Rose, 63, captured the white bear - known as a spirit bear - while visiting the Great Bear Rain Forest in British Columbia, Canada, which is thought to be the only place in the world where these animals can be pictured. His images, taken last October, show the bear successfully hunting for fish across the river. Steven, a Canadian photography guide, said: "The bears can be seen cleverly digging up the eggs laid by the salmon by clawing away the sand on the riverbed to expose the eggs, then gulping them up. "I have clients who have gone on trips in previous years and not seen one during the whole week they were there. I am a lucky guy to have been able to witness this." — Steven Rose/Caters News

Spirit bears are often found on the Canadian islands of Gribbell, Princess Royal and Roderick, where one in ten bears are part of this infrequent species.

The species is considered sacred to the indigenous Tsimshian people, who called the spirit bear “moskgm’ol” meaning “white bear.”

Since the spirit bear is so rare, the government of British Columbia outlawed the hunting of the species. However, as hunting of grizzly and black bears in the Great Bear Rainforest is still allowed, a hunter might kill a black bear that carries the infrequent recessive gene to create the white animal.