Dangerous Grizzly Killed on Texada Island; Men Fined for Not Reporting

   Image from Mark Roberts, Texada Island, posted on Facebook May 25, 2025

During 2025, a saga unfolded where a dangerous, food habituated grizzly bear swam across three miles of salt water to Texada Island in British Columbia, Canada. The bear had been tagged in the left ear. It was a young boar about four years old which had been relocated twice because of conflicts with humans. The bear kept coming back. Just before the swim, the bear had been breaking into fishing boats and had stalked two teenagers on the beach. They had to take to the water to avoid the bear on May 22, 2025. COS is the acronym for the Conservation Officers Service in British Columbia.   From sportfishing.com:

 The COS cited additional encounters in May, including on May 22 in Powell River.

“The bear displayed aggressive behaviour by stalking two residents while walking on a trail,” stated COS.

Fortunately, the residents were able to escape, but it wasn’t easy.

“The people escaped by entering and remaining in the water for half an hour while the bear remained on shore circling back and forth. The grizzly bear tore up one of their jackets on shore before leaving,” COS said.

Another recent incident occurred on May 27 on Texada Island.

According to COS, “the grizzly bear stalked a resident walking home with her horse and dog for half a kilometer.”

On Texada Island, residents appeared to be united in opposition to a grizzly bear invasion of their Island. Opinions were divided about how to remove the bear. Some residents thought the bear should be killed. Others thought the bear should be trapped and relocated. The COS was not willing to apply either option. They would not issue a kill order for the bear, but stated it was too habituated to relocate, as it already came back to areas of dense human population after two relocation attempts. A resident of Texada posted this message to the facebook Texada message board:

I am the person who was charged by the grizzly bear while walking with my horse and dog on May 28. Without a doubt, the most frightening experience of my life. I am still recovering from that experience. 

 

I have read the posts regarding the bear for the past month. I agree that things need to change. I don’t think Texada is a good place for a grizzly bear. What is the answer to this problem? I don’t know.

Mark Robert, who first discovered and took video of the grizzly on Texada, said this about Texada Island:

 Biggest predator is a raccoon. Everyone has free roaming chickens and goats and sheep, no one is really prepared for a large predator. 

Local bear supporters found a tribe which was willing to have the bear transported to a remote salmon stream, where there was plenty of food and few humans. After refusals by the COS, followed by tribal negotiations, the COS agreed to allow the relocation by private parties. The bear enthusiasts were able to raise the twenty to thirty thousand dollars required for the relocation. A few days before the relocation trapping efforts were to start, the grizzly was shot and killed.

Investigation eventually determined two Island residents were involved. They were each fined $3,000 for failure to report the killing of a grizzly bear. They were not charged with illegal killing of the bear. It may be the killing was justified as self defense. The details of the shooting and killing have not been made public. From facebook:

 Texada Island residents Kody Bevan and Seneca Antony pleaded guilty and were sentenced in Powell River provincial court today for failing to promptly report the wounding or killing of a grizzly bear, a violation under section 75(2) of the Wildlife Act (WLA).

In July 2025, the BC Conservation Officer Service initiated an investigation into the killing of a tagged grizzly bear after receiving a report it had been shot and possibly wounded in the Van Anda area. The BCCOS conducted a thorough investigation into these allegations, which resulted in these charges being laid.

Bevan and Antony each received a $3,000 fine, with $2,000 from each fine directed to the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation.

Analysis: It seems unlikely those raising money to relocate the grizzly will use some of the funds to pay the fines for Kody and Seneca. The bear was habituated and dangerous. The bad habits are not erased by relocation. The COS should have euthanized the bear before it swam to Texada Island. Grizzly bears are not endangered in British Columbia. Their populations are increasing, which is why more bears are entering populated areas, becoming habituated to humans and becoming dangerous. Relocating habituated bears moves the problem from one place to another. The dangerous bear becomes like a landmine in the forest. Maybe no one will trigger it until it becomes inert. The potential is there for years in the future. British Columbia has banned most hunting of grizzly bears, thus eliminating one of the most effective ways of removing aggressive, dangerous bears from the bear population. As noted by Stephan Herrero,  bears which are not afraid of humans tend to be killed, either during aggressive behavior or when hunted. This tendency is accelerated when humans commonly carry effective weapons.

©2026 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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