In a corner of carver Richard Pollard\u2019s workshop in the back of his Bella Coola home is a small replica of the wood-hewn memorial he is making for his brother. It is a grizzly bear holding a copper shield, a symbol of high honour.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to make something worthy of my brother,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
To the Nuxalk people, the grizzly bear is a respected creature. Mr. Pollard\u2019s totem poles can be found throughout Nuxalk territory. The grizzly is positioned at the bottom because its strength holds the others up.<\/p>\n
Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Protective tape and a warning sign blocks access near the site of the recent grizzly bear attack that injured 11 people in Bella Coola, B.C. The community is on alert as the search for the bear responsible continues.<\/p>\n Beyond being a horrific incident, the Nov. 20 grizzly attack on a large group of students from the Nuxalk\u2019s school is incomprehensible for a community that has co-existed with grizzles for thousands of years.<\/p>\n The group of about 20 Grade 4 and 5 students had stopped for lunch in the forest during a field trip when a grizzly bear, believed to be with her two cubs, attacked. The teachers were prepared with standard-issue bear deterrents \u2013 potent pepper spray and modified shotgun shells called bear bangers, which create a startling noise and flash. <\/p>\n But in all, 11 people were injured. Four of them, a teacher and three young pupils, were hospitalized. Some students participated in the fight with the bear, allowing others to escape.<\/p>\n There is no record of an attack like this, and it is forcing the Nuxalk to rethink the way they co-exist with bears.<\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Living in the Bella Coola valley, Mr. Pollard has had many grizzly bear encounters. Co-existing with the bears is a way of life for the Nuxalk people.<\/p>\n Mr. Pollard, whose Nuxalk name is Suncwmay, has had more grizzly bear encounters than he can count. Most are peaceful, although he\u2019s been charged while riding his bike. It has just been part of life in the valley. But the community is now on alert as the search for the bear responsible for the attack continues.<\/p>\n The rural school reopened on Tuesday, but with new safety rules in place. More changes will follow as the community comes to terms with a new relationship. <\/p>\n While grizzly viewing is a significant part of Bella Coola\u2019s tourism economy, it is not the Nuxalk way to go looking for bears. Mr. Pollard has spent a lifetime safely navigating the outdoors among bears. Now he is nervous for his grandchildren. Yet he would not think of harming a bear: \u201cWe don\u2019t hunt grizzlies, we don\u2019t eat them.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, the attack renewed the calls from the B.C. Wildlife Federation to reopen bear hunting. The organization claims this and other recent incidents prove that bear populations have gotten out of control since British Columbia ended the grizzly hunt in 2017. \u201cWith no hunting pressure, grizzlies and humans will increasingly occupy the same spaces with inevitable consequences,\u201d said executive director Jesse Zeman.<\/p>\n Nuxalk members have not called for the destruction of the grizzly, should it be found. And conservation officers, who have set live traps, have carefully avoided saying whether the bear will be terminated.<\/p>\n There is a bond between these powerful apex predators and coastal First Nations in the large swath of B.C.\u2019s central coast known as the Great Bear Rainforest.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The students from the Nuxalk\u2019s Acwsalcta School are learning not just the regular B.C. school curriculum but about their culture and how to move in the natural world around them. Before they entered the forest, their teachers led them in a traditional prayer to announce their presence to the bears.<\/p>\n \u201cAll our kids are very well-versed in staying safe. Land-based healing and practices are a huge part of our community,\u201d Kirsten Milton, primary care director and an elected Nuxalk councillor, said in an interview in the nation\u2019s council chambers. <\/p>\n The incident is a reminder that to live in the Great Bear Rainforest is to accept that you live with bears. \u201cWe were in their space,\u201d Ms. Milton said.<\/p>\n Acwsalcta used to conduct its outdoor education classes in a forested area adjacent to the school, in the Nuxalk community of Four Mile. But that forest is gone, cut down to make way for development. So the students and their teachers crossed Highway 20 into a wooded area, which is closer to a wildlife corridor that winds its way through the Bella Coola valley. Bears are still active even in late November, trying to fatten up before hibernation.<\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n A B.C. conservation officer measures a footprint left in the mud during the search for the bear responsible for the attack in Bella Coola.HO\/B.C. Conservation Officer Service<\/p>\n The Nuxalk have not responded to the attack with bloodlust but with a measured quest for answers about what went wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are just unusual circumstances,\u201d said Clyde Tallio, a respected knowledge-keeper in the community whose Nuxalk name is Snxakila.<\/p>\n \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t go in with pitchforks and torches and demonize these creatures. We need to look at our human actions to understand why we are seeing this change in behaviour. Our history shows us this is unusual. We need to use the best knowledge and the best science to find the solutions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Mr. Tallio was speaking not far from where the attack occurred, with snow-capped mountains towering around him in every direction. What these postcard-perfect views don\u2019t show is that the environment that feeds people and bears alike here has been degraded as a result of logging, fishing and climate change. <\/p>\n British Columbia\u2019s grizzly population is listed as a \u201cspecial concern\u201d under the federal Species at Risk Act, and their primary threat comes from habitat loss and fragmentation because of human activities like logging.<\/p>\n In November, bears in the upper valley are already hibernating. There is still food to be had in the lower valley, however, so the bears here are still active. And when salmon are in short supply, the human settlements along the valley bottom offer opportunity for hungry bears.<\/p>\n Many properties in the community are agricultural homesteads \u2013 barns still stand solidly, hand hewn from ancient timbers by Norwegian settlers a century ago. But even smaller properties offer tempting sources for food.<\/p>\n \u201cOur communities need to do better at cleaning up after our waste, of not cutting down all the food sources for the bears \u2013 remember that we have lived in harmony and balance with these creatures for thousands of years,\u201d said Mr. Tallio. <\/p>\n Coastal First Nations collectively banned trophy hunting of grizzly bears in the Great Bear Rainforest, on B.C.\u2019s central coast, in 2012. The Nuxalk were instrumental in the push that led the provincial government to institute the province-wide ban in 2017, and this attack has not changed the fact that trophy hunting is an offence to their traditional laws.<\/p>\n