This Clover has four paws, not four leaves.

But Kamloops is lucky to have this charmer: a one and a half year old kermode bear, also known as a spirit bear, who's the newest arrival at the B.C. Wildlife Park.

Clover was introduced at a press conference Monday and will make his public debut in spring. His arrival in town, where all the black bears are black or brown, was met with excitement.

"My first instinct was, did I just win the lottery? This is huge for the park and huge for Kamloops," said park general manager Glenn Grant.

Clover was found orphaned and taken to the Northern Lights Wildlife Shelter for several months of bear rehabilitation. In July, he was outfitted with a radio collar, then released in the Terrace area.

Trouble arose in mid-October, when Clover lost his collar in an area that was remote, but was the site of an archeological dig. He began hanging around and conservation officers trapped him.

Grant said the kermode bears are a protected species, so the officers called Victoria about what to do with Clover. Victoria called Grant.

And that's how Clover came to be the first kermode in captivity.

Grant said the newly arrived bear will spend about six months in the quarantine area, denned up for winter and adjusting to his new home.

In the meantime, park staff are scrambling to figure out how to build an enclosure for their new guest.

Clover can't be put in with the park's three other black bears. The dynamic with Hamilton, five, and two females, with the addition of another young male, could be bad, even though Hamilton is neutered.

He's not a good fit with the grizzlies, either, so it's just as well that kermodes tend to be solitary creatures.

With Clover's unique kermode genetics, the park won't want him to be neutered, Grant added.

B.C. is the only place on earth where kermodes exist. They aren't polar bears and they aren't albinos. Between 140 and 400 of them live on the province's northwestern coast, around Princess Royal/Pooley/Gribble islands and Terrace/Hazleton.

The rare bear is going to be a big tourist attraction for the park and Grant wants to make sure the new enclosure reflects that. He's hoping to build a bear habitat with an attached interpretive building.

And he's already looking for sponsors.

He estimated the rough cost of construction at $500,000, but admitted it could go higher as more planning takes place.

"We have to figure out what to build and where. We would like not just bear habitat but an interpretive building attached to it to showcase the bear, its history, its relationship to First Nations," he said.

"It's a great problem to have. Fundraising for this guy is not going to be difficult given his status and his rareness."

myoung@kamloopsnews.ca

@MicheleYoungKDN