The Conservation Officer Service has confirmed that the grizzly bear roaming Texada Island has been shot and killed, allegedly by a member of the public in the Van Anda area.
"The COS can confirm it is the tagged grizzly bear seen on Texada Island in recent weeks, and that it was shot," reads a social media post on Tuesday (July 15). "The bear will undergo a necropsy."
The young grizzly, nicknamed "Tex" by locals who worried about the bear's safety and were calling for it to be translocated, was spotted on Texada Island more than a month ago after swimming over from the Powell River area.
In 2024, the bear was relocated twice. First, last September, from Gibsons, and then from Sechelt – both times to a secluded coastal area to keep it away from people. However, on both occasions, the grizzly bear made its way back to urban areas along the Sunshine Coast in just a few weeks.
READ MORE: North Island First Nation offers a home to wayward grizzly bear roaming Texada Island
Randene Neill, Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, said the grizzly bear's death comes as work was underway with First Nations on a new plan to attempt to translocate the bear to another remote area up the coast. However, before they could pinpoint its location, they received reports about the bear's death, she said.
"This isn’t how we wanted this to end," Neill said in a statement released Tuesday afternoon.
Since the young male grizzly bear was spotted on the small, normally bear-free island, Tex has garnered a social media following with the "Save Tex - The Texada Island Grizzly Bear" Facebook page and other social media groups. A post by Island resident Ryan Michael on Facebook Tuesday criticized how the government handled the situation.
"He paid the ultimate price for human failure. His death was entirely preventable – yet B.C. leadership chose silence over action," Michael wrote.
In a video statement, COS Insp. Simon Gravel confirmed the grizzly bear was shot and killed.
"We do understand that this can generate a lot of interest and emotions from the public," Gravel said. "As soon as the investigation is completed, we'll be happy to share more information."
The Mirror has contacted the First Nations that had been involved with rescuing the bear, and is awaiting a response.
If anyone has information about the grizzly bear's killing, they are encouraged to report it to the RAPP line at 1-877-952-7277.
