A look at the wildlife of the Cassiar mountains wouldn't be complete without a look at some of the predators. All of the animals we've looked at so far eat plants - the moose live mainly on the "greens" in the valley bottoms, the sheep like to stay up higher in the mountains, and the caribou are the commuters of the north, travelling for miles across all kinds of terrain in their quest for food.
But, there are others here too. You might be out for a walk in the woods, taking in all of the sights and sounds of local residents, when you hear a twig snap and some rustling in the brush.
Is it a moose looking for something to munch on? Is it a lone caribou looking for its herd?
Or, is it something else? Something dark catches your eye, a bit obscured behind some brush at the side of the road... Then, it all becomes clear.
It's a bear! Often seen as one of the more dangerous animals that live in the area, this one is just looking for something to eat, and right now, is just munching on some of the spring pussy willows. Eating these must be like having a mouth full of cotton!
But, sometimes the animals just have to eat what's around at the time. It's not like a downtown restaurant where any kind of food can be ordered. What's on the menu is totally dependent on the time of year. So what do bears eat? Obviously, from the looks of this guy, just about anything that'll fit in his mouth. You see a lot of bears where there's abundant food. Later in the summer when the berries are growing wild all through the valleys, you'll see both bears gorging themselves on the berries as well as lots of bear sign - half-digested piles of "lunch". Now, it's just fertilizer for the next growth... Bears also eat meat, which is probably where they get their reputation for being dangerous. But every wild animal is dangerous, and shouldn't be taken lightly.
After lunch, our visitor decides that it might be best to move on and look for some dessert. So, with its keen sense of smell at work, this bear decided to bid us farewell and head off to greener pastures and some more munching.
This big boy is a nice, healthy looking black bear. It's the most common bear you see in the area. But, the king of bears also lives here - the grizzly. Territorial in nature, the grizzly is usually quite a bit larger than its cousins, and is sometimes seen on the mining property. A lone grizzly lives in the hills above camp, and sometimes comes down lower into the valley.
Crossing paths with a grizzly isn't a daily event, but it does happen enough to justify packing some protection from time to time - particularly if you're in the back country. This is a wild country, and if you had to wait for help to come, you'd be waiting a while.
Bears - both blacks and grizzlies - are sometimes visitors to camp. Christina and Scott keep a clean camp, though, so there's no attraction for them here.
Except for the greenhouse... A midnight visitor punched some holes in the plastic that makes up the greenhouse walls last fall, looking for that last little bit of food before the long, cold winter. But, he quickly moved on and went elsewhere in the valley.
