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Two Texada Island residents have been convicted after failing to report the killing of a grizzly bear in July 2025, according to conservation officers.
The B.C. Conservation Officer Service (COS) said in a social media post on Thursday that Kody Bevan and Seneca Antony have been fined $3,000 each.
They were charged last September after the killing of the grizzly bear the previous July, which followed weeks of controversy as Texada Island residents were divided by the bear.
Residents were torn on whether the bear, which had already been relocated twice, should be killed or left alone.
B.C. Conservation officers say a grizzly bear that had caused problems in the past and had been relocated several times has been shot dead after making an appearance on B.C.’s largest Gulf Island. The five-year-old male showed up in late May on Texada Island, about 100 kilometres north of Vancouver near Powell River. CBC’s Maryse Zeidler has more
CBC News later learned that local First Nations had hatched a plan to relocate the wayward bear, and the province was working to bring it to fruition when the bear was shot dead.
Bevan and Antony were sentenced Thursday in the case after pleading guilty to failing to promptly report the wounding or killing of a grizzly bear, according to COS.
Conservation officers said $4,000 of the fine amount would be donated to the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation. The charges in the case do not indicate who exactly killed the bear.
The Current23:05How a grizzly on a B.C. island sent a community into crisis
It had been a century since Texada Island had seen a grizzly bear. So when one swam 5 kilometres from the mainland over to the community off the B.C. coast, it created curiosity, panic and division about how to live with a giant predator — a giant predator they named, Tex. Molly Segal brings the story of that island community, and the bear, in her documentary, A Bear Called Tex.
Bear sparked controversy
Residents of Texada Island — B.C.’s largest Gulf Island, almost 100 kilometres northwest of Vancouver and home to about 1,000 people — weren’t used to having large predators there.
Locals had nicknamed the grizzly “Tex,” and officials had previously said the bear had been relocated twice before, after it was found wandering near schools and downtown areas of Gibsons and Sechelt.
After being moved to Vancouver Bay — partway up Jervis Inlet, about 50 kilometres north of Sechelt — the grizzly returned to the Sunshine Coast.
It was then relocated even further north, to the far end of Jervis Inlet, before it seemed to settle in at Texada Island.
Before the bear was killed, the province put out a list of the bear’s previous problematic behaviour from the preceding year, including:
- Stalking two residents while walking on a trail in Powell River on May 22. The residents escaped into the water while the bear paced on shore for half an hour, tearing up one of their jackets;
- Stalking a resident walking with her horse and dog for half a kilometre on Texada Island on May 28;
- Reportedly chasing livestock on June 10 and 11 on Texada Island.
Its death caused mourning among local First Nations, especially after the plan to relocate it again came to light.
Officials told CBC News that social media and misinformation inflamed the situation around the bear.
It was to be moved to a remote location where it could live with other coastal grizzlies and not swim back, according to officials.