Conservation officers rescued two grizzly cubs and a moose calf earlier this month.
Conservation officer Gareth Scrivner of the North Coast Zone, which includes Terrace and Kitimat, said that officers were called out to a dead grizzly sow near Kitimat and successfully trapped her two cubs.
The male and female cub, who were this year’s cubs, were sent for rehabilitation to Northern Lights Wildlife Shelter in Smithers, said Scrivner.
“As we haven’t had any indication they have been eating garbage, they met the criteria for rehabilitation,” he said.
The grizzly sow was found dead but it wasn’t clear how she died as an initial field post-mortem from the officers didn’t determine anything definite, he added.
“I suspected she had been hit by traffic as it was off the Alcan road and that is very busy at shift change, but the guys didn’t find any signs of impact or broken bones,” said Scrivner.
“There were no bullets or bullet entry wounds, so she may have died of natural causes.”
Officers also freed a moose calf that had become trapped in a wolf snare after tranquilizing it.
“Somehow the moose ended up getting caught up in the snare even though it hadn’t been set, but was hanging up in a tree ready for use later in the trapping season,” said Scrivner, adding that wolf snares are legal for registered trappers to use on their trap line, which was the case here.
