A Michigan trail camera caught a “one in a million”, incredibly mysterious white “spirit bear” foraging among the bait. A subspecies of the American black bear is the Kermode bear, sometimes known as the spirit bear. In essence, they are a type of black bear with white fur. According to experts, it is quite difficult to see a white spirit bear in the wild. But lately, one was observed searching through a bait that a hunter had laid out in the wilderness.
This month, September 2022, a trail camera pointed at a bait pile set up ahead of the yearly bear hunting season caught sight of an about 100-pound male bear with blonde colorings. According to wildlife officials, this is the first time in Michigan’s history that such an animal has been identified.
The spirit bear’s coat is almost all white, but the top of its head and neck do have some cinnamon coloration. According to the charity North American Bear Center in Ely, Minnesota, this is only the sixth time a “spirit bear” has been identified outside of British Columbia, making the bear discovered in Michigan genetically one in a million bears.
According to experts, it is quite difficult to see a white spirit bear in the wild. But lately, one was observed searching through a bait that a hunter had laid out in the wilderness. The Great Lake State’s western Upper Peninsula is where the animal was discovered.
The images posted on Facebook by an Upper Peninsula trekking guide nearly guarantee it was a spirit bear, even though Department of Natural Resources representatives haven’t confirmed whether the animal genuinely has white fur.
It’s just exciting seeing an animal pop up like this here instead of somewhere else. We’ve had some cinnamon color phases show up, some blonde and chocolate on some trail cameras we use for surveys which is also really cool to see,” said Cody Norton, a carnivore specialist with the local Department of Natural Resources.
Polar bears and albinos are not spirit bears. Experts say that because of a one-in-a-million possibility when both of the bear’s parents bred and developed a recessive gene for white fur, they are black bears with white fur.
That is precisely why spotting a spirit bear is so incredibly difficult. In British Columbia, Canada’s Central and North Coast districts, spirit bears can be found. It serves as both the provincial symbol and the emblem of Terrace, British Columbia. He claimed the bear was roughly two years old when it was taken.