Spirit Bear!

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Photos, Travel 22 Comments

Spirit Bear

Wow, I can’t believe how lucky and fortnate I was just to see such a rare animal, much less capture a photo!  The Skagway twice monthly newspaper mentioned a spirt bear had been seen near Skagway this past year, in fact the town is lobbing the state for protection of this rare bear – a genetically-unique subspecies of black bear, it could be hunted.  It is one thing to know one is in the area – to actually find a single bear in this countryside takes luck!

Spirit bears are also known as kermode bears, or ghost bears, and are usually only seen around the central British Columbia coast.  This isn’t a polar bear, or an albino, but a uniqe subspecies with a population estimated at about 400 according to Wikipedia.

Funny, I wasn’t going to post a blog today – but how could I not after such an exciting sighting!

By the way, we now have an entire section of Skagway, Alaska photos.

Comments 22

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  2. Never heard of this before. That’s some crazy stuff you’ve got up in Alaska! Reminds me of that white buffalo stuff they’ve got in Arizona.

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  5. White buffalo is at this ranch near Flagstaff that has several of them. There are only a few in existence around the country. The old guy tending to the stables was a jerk when I walked by the buffalo enclosure trying to take a picture. Telling me to stay away. Heck, if I pay 5 dollars or whatever the cost was to get in then hell yeah I’m going to take pictures. They have good buffalo jerky at the store, but other than that I wouldn’t go back based on that curmugeonly old dude.

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    Thanks Dad!

    I would like to say I trekked for miles through the backcountry and waited for days – but actually it just ran out in front of us on on the road!

    Ron

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  9. Ron,
    I would like to put this photo on my blog. The blog is about my work in the north around Great Bear Lake. Although we do not have “Spirit Bears” here we do have black and brown bears. We had an encounter with a little black bear the other day and my blog is covering some basic bear facts and legends and a photo of a white bear would be great.
    Cheers from on Great Bear Lake
    Pat

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    Hi Pat,

    You can use the photo in your blog in exchange for a link.

    Look like you are having a lot of fun up there!

    Thanks,

    Ron

  11. Hey Ron,
    Thanks for photo. I listed your blog on donkeycat.motime.com so others can see all the great shots you’ve taken. And yes I’m having a great time working in the north. Feel free to setup a link, I’m just new to this and don’t know how to set it up.
    Cheers
    Pat

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  13. Nice Picture. Please be aware the bear in this picture is a Light Phase Cinnimon bear. Cinnimon bears are a common subspecies of Black Bears and are not genetically Kermode Bears as this one has been commonly and mistakenly refered to as. The Kermode bear exists only in a specific area of British Colombia. More information is available by Googleing Kermode or Spirit Bear.
    Tim Henricksen

  14. Hay the spirit beaqr lives and is in canada. They want to run an oil line through their home whats up with that. We need to protect the spirit bear and its habitat we cant let anyone destroy these beautiful animals.

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