Torrential rains Saturday put this section of Highway 37 by Williams
Creek under three inches of water hours after this photo was taken. The
most serious damage, however, occurred south of the Kitimat River
Bridge where a 250-foot section of road shoulder 15 feet wide was

representative said,
race a section of Highway 16
had to repair about 100 meters of roadbed.

undermined by the swollen river. A North.Coast Road Maintenance
“Ht will be a fairly major repair job.” West of Ter-
was closed for a few hours and the CNR.

React”

Black and white bears to bracket council chambers

Anyone who remembers Ter-
race city council’s woes with a
donated Kermodei bear will
. .wonder at their wisdom of going

for a black bear, But this time it

will be different. They are going

to pay for the mounting of the

bear, and it looks like this time it
_ will be a cut and dried deal.

by Tod Strachan

It was suggested by alderman
Bob Cooper a few months ago
that local Conservation Officers
had a black bear in their posses-
sion, and if they wished, council
could have the hide. Nothing
more was heard until Nov. 14

when council approved a deal

that was made at least two weeks

earlier. Local historians won’t

be surprised at council’s con-

cluding the deal before formally
approving it, however. The Ker-
modei’s cousin is being mounted
by Peter Martinson of Bornite
Mountain Taxidermy; the out-
spoken “‘loser’’ in the Kermodei

As pets, they don’t work well

Orphaned bear cubs can be as

"cute and alluring as puppies, but

there are definite dangers in tak-
ing them in.

by Tod Strachan

First, you can never be sure
‘they’re orphaned; the mother
could be nearby. And second,
once familiar with humans they

jose their natural fear and are

. sure to become a menace when
‘they grow older. Terrace Con-
servation Officer Ken Hoffman
advises, therefore, if you notice
bear cubs that appear to be on
their own, report them to the
authorities before trying to
make pets of them.

‘In the last few weeks, four or-
phaned cubs have been reported
and two of these have been
flown via Canadian Airlines In-

_ -ternational to new homes in the
_ south. The first, a healthy

‘youngster, was declared a

nuisance after hanging around a

Cedarvale farm house for about
two weeks and was trapped by
~ @onservation officers and ship-

ped to the Kitimat SPCA. The
‘second, a runt by comparison
due to a mouthful of porcupine

quills, was found by a Prince.
Rupert motorist and delivered to -

the Prince Rupert SPCA. »
Everything came together for
these cubs due to the co-
—" ppération of a number of
__ Otgaiizations. The airlift effort

‘was coordinated by the Terrace.

conservation office with the help
of Kitimat and Prince Rupert

-SPCA officials, and their airfare

was donated by Canadian
Airlines International. The cubs

were then welcomed by

Monica’s Wildlife Shelter in
Surrey while a search for a per-
manent home in a game farm or
zoo continues.

The difficult part in these
situations, says Ken Hoffman, is
insuring a happy future for the
bear. He says they are better off
‘in the wild than in a zoo, but a
zoo is better than no future at
all. The cub from Cedarvale had
found a good source of food,
but at the same time lost all fear
of humans, This means it would
probably have been necessary to
shoot the bear next summer. The
second bear, the one with a
mouthful of quills, would prob-
ably have died over the winter.

As for the other two bears,
reported as being orphaned in
Doreen, they have disappeared
and may have hibernated. In
spite of donated time and
transportation by the Environ-
mental Youth Corps and VIA
Rail, they haven’t been found.

_And this, says Hoffman, is for-

tunate. These bears may survive
nicely in the wild and their
future looks much brighter than

that of the two flown south.

They can never be released; they

will always rely on humans for

their survival. ,
‘Hoffman says this sort of

situation doesn’t arise often, but
when it does he’s glad to have
the resources of dedicated
volunteers available. He ex-
plains that the SPCA offices,
not unlike the Terrace and
Thornhill animal shelters, are

paid by their respective

municipalities only for residen-
tial animal control. When it
comes to wildlife, these shelters.
rely on nothing more than public
donations and the love the
workers have for animals. He
also recognizes the good cor-
porate citizenship of both CAI
and VIA Rail in these most re-
cent incidents.

Another airlift took place
recently, and that one ended
with the patient being returned
to the wild. Marlene Loker of
the Kitimat SPCA wrote the
final chapter in that story when
she transported a loon found in
Terrace to Douglas Channel to
see if it was capable of surviving
in the wild... and it passed the
test with ‘flying’’ colors. A few
strong strokes of the wings and
the loon was airborne and
headed south on its own.

The loon was found on Hwy.

16 east of Terrace by a passing

motorist and delivered to the
Terrace Animal Shelter where it
received initial care, The bird

had apparently mistaken the wet

surface of the highway for a

stream and came to. an abrupt °

halt. when it hit the hard surface.

It’s injuries, however,. were

minimal.

affair. .

For those of you who are new
in town, alittle history may be in
order. In brief, a hunter on the
Queen Charlotte Islands illegally

shot. and killed a Kermodei bear
and took it to Martinson to have
the hide preserved. Martinson,
however, did the right thing. He
turned the bear over to the Con-
servation Office and the hunter
was charged with his offence.
But this is only the beginning of
the story. |

Martinson claims he suggested

-to Conservation Officer Terry
McGunigle that the hide be
donated to the city and he would
in turn donate his services to
mount the bear. All he wanted
was to put his name on his work.
These facts were later confirmed
by McGunigle, —

City administrator Bob
Hallsor felt that everyone should
have a chance at making an of-
fer to mount the bear and
phoned local taxidermists. One
other taxidermist expressed an
interest in the job and this left
Hallsor with a dilemma — how
do you choose between two bids
that are donations? Certainly
not by normial tendering pro-
cedures. But-it seemed there was
a fair solution: Hallsor drew a
name froma ‘‘hat’’ and Martin-
son’s competitor, Britton’s Tax-
idermy, won the draw.

Since the Kermodei affair,.
however, a For Sale sign has
gone up in: front-of Britton Tax-
idermy and Bornite Mountain
has the local market somewhat
to itself. It’s not surprising then,
that Martinson got the job, To’
some it may be even less sur-
prising that Martinson declined
a suggestion that he donate his
services and instead tendered a
price. oo

Now back to the present, The
black bear hide was delivered to
Martinson and he began with the
skinning, fleshing- and salting
process only to find out that an
unidentified piece of the hide
was missing. The cost for this

exercise was $100. Since then a

new bear has been found and the
total cost for preparing this one
for show will be $1,120 includ-
ing skinning, fleshing, salting

and mounting; standing on all.

fours, front slightly elevated,
head turned to the left. Yet to be
added to this cost are the base on
which it will stand and the
casters which will provide, the
proud beast with a form of
mobility. .

In about nine months this
proud sentinel of the wild will
grace counci! chambers and it’s
quite certain that from Martin-
son’s point of view, as was the
case with the hapless hunter who
shot the Kermodei, justice has,
been served. 7

all trips.

4

NOTICE OF RATE INCREASE

Chimo Delivery, due to increased costs, must
now announce rate increases as follows: From_
$3.00 basic in town proper to $4.00; Bench area -
past Halliwell $5.00; Thornhill area from $5.00 to
$6.00; and from $6.00 to $7.00 to oiitlying areas.
Basically we have found it necessary to add $1.00 to

This is our first increase in six years. We ap-
_ preciate the business of all our valued customers.

| Ada Solowonluk
D.B.A. Chimo Delivery

|