Home»Bella Coola Bears-2009

It's now the first week of Sept. and the salmon have made it back to the Atnarko River in pretty good numbers (compared to last year, anyway) and the Pinks and Chinook are beginning to spawn. The bears are back to the river also to hunt and scavenge for this most vital of food sources. This is their story with some of the bear families being recognizable to me over the years. One family, Y-Back and her young ones, I've seen together now since her cubs were in their first year. They are now in their fourth year and still patrol the river with their mom. Somebody gave her the name Y-Back for some reason and it will be used here. She has a distinctive white blotch on her shoulders which dribbles down her sides like someone poured white paint on her. One of her young has a similar (but neater) white band on its shoulders while the other young one is fairly blonde. After image#16, other bears in my encounters are shown.