Residents in a small community on northern Vancouver Island are being urged to use caution, after a rare sighting of a grizzly bear in the area. 

In a public alert, the Village of Sayward — located just over 300 kilometres north of Victoria, B.C. — issued a warning to its residents after the grizzly was spotted within the village on May 4. Posts on Facebook indicate residents had been seeing the bear in the area around the village in the days leading up to it officially entering the village’s boundary.

“I was driving south from Port Hardy, and I just came down the hill into the Sayward Valley. There was a bear on the side of the road and I was like wait a minute, that wasn’t a black bear,” described Nick Bardy, an avid hunter who lives in the Comox Valley and spotted the bear on May 2. 

The B.C. Conservation Officer Service said in a statement it is aware of the reported sighting and there are no conflict reports associated with the bear.

A new normal 

While it’s the first sighting of a grizzly on the Island for the year, sightings are becoming more common.

Kerry Kilmury lives in the Comox Valley, but says she and her husband frequently take camping trips up to Sayward.

Last year, she installed a trail camera on a logging road just north of the village, for her own curiosity. She says she’s seen elk, wolves and cougars — but was surprised to see a sow and her two cubs last spring. 

“We were quite astounded when we saw the three grizzlies walking up the road,” she said. 

“I figured that with the two cubs growing up and eating everything they can find on Vancouver Island, maybe they’re going to stay and stick around.”

Historically, the Island has not been considered a year-round habitat for grizzlies, although some bears will occasionally swim over from the mainland in the summer, says Nick Scapillati, executive director with the Grizzly Bear Foundation. 

But sightings of the mom and her cubs goes back to 2024 and Scapillati says that due to the small size of the cubs, they wouldn’t have been able to swim over. He believes it could be evidence of the first ever grizzly cubs to be born on Vancouver Island — a sign that grizzlies could be wintering on the Island. 

According to Scapillati, the climate crisis has forced bears to expand their territory and adapt, as previous food sources and habitats change. 

Conservation efforts for grizzly bears have also ramped up over the last 30 years, with grizzly bear hunting was banned in December 2017. Those efforts have resulted in more bears, which has resulted in grizzlies growing their territory and moving into new areas. 

“Grizzly bears are on the move, and communities need to be prepared,” he said. 

Living alongside wildlife 

Scapillati emphasizes that it’s important to learn to live with wildlife, and points to communities like Squamish and Whistler as examples where education campaigns have led to humans successfully living alongside bears.

He hopes that by educating and spreading awareness it will avoid a situation like what happened on Texada last summer, where a grizzly bear that had swum over from the mainland was shot and killed. 

“If you’re going to coexist, you really need to get rid of the fear,” he said. 

He believes most communities on the Island are already well adapted to coexisting with cougars and black bears, and grizzlies aren’t a huge addition.

Small things like securing garbage and putting away chickens, being bear aware when out in the wilderness and bringing bear spray are small steps to coexisting with grizzlies.