This was a good day with the bears. This is a common scene in the spring when mothers bring their cubs to the beach to feed. The run up Knight Inlet on the grizzly bear tour day to the Glendale River estuary is 40 km (26 m) and the last 5 km (3 m) is often referred to as the nursery. The mother grizzlies bring their cubs to this area to avoid the larger males in Glendale Cove. Remember grizzly mating season runs from May to early July and this places new cubs in danger.
The last 3 years we have been starting to view sea otters in our area more regularly. They are still often a distance away, but the sightings are increasing with some “rafts” of them developing in areas near the western portion of our whale watching trips. These animals were hunted heavily for their fur and were completely wiped out of British Columbia waters. Re-introduction occurred from Alaskan otters in the 1960’s. They have long been protected and their numbers have been steadily increasing along the exposed BC coast and are now moving back into inside waters. They are unique in that they don’t have the insulating blubber that other marine mammals use to keep warm. As a result they have dense (over 1 million hairs per square inch) fur and feed heavily. They are important in balancing the eco-system. They eat a lot of sea urchins, which eat a lot of kelp. Kelp is extremely important as it provides cover for juvenile fish and is where the herring spawn in the early spring. With the increase in these otters we are seeing a greater abundance and healthier kelp forests.
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