Balancing Act

Princess Royal Island, British Columbia

This spirit bear came down to the river about every half hour to fish. He would catch a fish and then take it back up to the forest to eat it before returning for another. This particular year the salmon numbers were good but the year before that hadn't been the case. Our aboriginal guides told us that they had found a number of bears the previous spring that had perished in their dens over the winter. This was likely due to being in poor condition from lack of nourishment before going into hibernation. There is most definitely a balancing act in nature and in this case the forest, river, salmon and bears are inextricably linked.