Clover the spirit bear has lived only a short while but has already experienced the extent of human insanity.

Humans killed his mother. Humans lured him into their camp with food so they could take his picture only to call the conservation officers when they tired of his presence. Lucky for him he is white so instead of killing him, humans have now closed him up in a park where this majestic, great animal will be reduced to a tourist attraction.

While some people are trying to set things right by calling for Clover’s release into the wild in the spring, this is no longer in Clover’s best interest. If he were released, other male bears in the area would most certainly kill him.

So now what? Since he cannot be safely released back into the wild and he does not deserve to be gawked at by hordes of noisy indifferent people, we suggest a saner, more compassionate option.

We suggest he be taken to a wildlife sanctuary where he could live out his natural life. There he would not be on a display for public viewing. He would be given a large space with natural habitat and would be able to forage naturally for his food. Let’s do something right for this animal after all we’ve done wrong.

SANDI MIKUSE

Advocates for Urban Wildlife

Kamloops