The Great Spirit Bear Hunt.

I have a friend who loves to stalk bears. See goes out at this time of year to see if she can spot teddies in her neck of the woods. The bears she finds, are plain old brown bears. Seeing a bear in its natural habitat is a thrill.
We went to Downtown Vancouver today and we saw bears galore, all over the city. Kermode Bears at that. The illusive rare, white bear that the natives call Spirit Bear. An incredible sight! And they were so colourful and pretty too. The Kermode Spirit Bears in the City Project is a huge fundraiser for 'BC Lions Society for Children with Disabilities' and 'Canucks for Kids Fund'. Both worthy causes. Artists get sponsors to help them pay for their bear and art costs. The completed bears are displayed all over town for several months and then auctioned off for charity. The same thing has been done in cities all over North America. We did it here a couple of years ago with a killer whale theme.
We printed up a map that shows the locations of the bears, from the Great Sspirit Bears in the City website and headed to Vancouver. Our first day off together in over a week and we werent going to let the first wet day in ages dampen our enthusiasm. We walked for miles around the city and snapped photos of some of the teddies. Here are just a few.....
This one was so brilliant. At first I thought it was just a blurr of colour, something psychadelic. But when you look closer, you can see faces and animals.
Outside the tourist information office, was this bear covered in murals of touristy spots around town. Click on him to enlarge and get a closer look at the scenes.


This bear was painted with the local scenery and Downtown, featuring the Burrard St Bridge. I think it was one of my favorites. Truely captureing the city and surrounding vistas.

This bear was made to look as though he is in a river, the salmon swimming upstream over is fur, was so well done. I love his face too.

Another sign of Vancouver is this Canuck Bear, Although Vancouver's team didn't get far this year, we still have great fans and when it comes time for auction, I am sure this hockey icon will bring a good price.
I hope my bear seeking friend enjoys seeing these bears, though they may not be quite as wild as the type she usually encounters.
But now I can tell her "Hey, I saw the bears today".