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For the April/May 2009 issue of ISLANDS magazine, contributing editor Jad Davenport journeyed to Princess Royal Island on the Pacific coast of Canada to track down the elusive "spirit bear." This is how his story begins: |
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A yellow September mist haunts the centuries- old Sitka spruce forest and muffles the slosh of something big moving down the creek. Nearby a raven croaks a throaty kraaack. In Gitga'at mythology, Raven is both Creator and Trickster. Marven Robinson, a Gitga'at bear guide in his late 30s, wipes a brown Canucks baseball hat off his crew cut and crouches beside the copper-colored creek on British Columbia's Princess Royal Island. The splashing melts into the pool-ball snick of river stones jostling beneath heavy paws. Marven leans into me; I can smell the mint tea on his breath. "Listen," he says quietly. "These animals have an extra special sense, and they can sense fear. So even if it walks right by us, don't move." I nod and fumble with my Nikon camera, not wanting to miss one of the rarest animals in the world, a snow-white bear that is rarer even than the giant panda of China. A bear ambles into view, but it's another hungry black bear. Ursus americanus is a striking creature, but also the most common bear in North America, found in almost every state from Florida to Alaska. As it blinks at us with hazel eyes and shuffles by so close I could stroke its rich blue-black fur, I realize my quest to see the spirit bear is just beginning. (To read the full story now, get the digital version of the April/May issue.)
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Plan Your Trip: Princess Royal Island
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