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Take a BC Safari

August 23rd, 2016

bearEvery time I travel through BC I am always amazed by the diversity of wildlife I come across on my travels. BC is an extremely large province and has incredibly varied landscapes from mountain ranges to grasslands and plains, and vast forests to a semi-arid shrub-steppe known as the Okanagan Desert. There are rivers, lakes, streams, marshes and more unique ecosystems than you can count. So, it’s not surprising it’s chock full of wildlife, but did you know the following facts, courtesy of the BC Ministry of Forests?

British Columbia has:

  • More than half the species found in Canada and 70% of the country’s native mammal species and breeding bird species88
  • 1,130 vertebrate species including:
    • 142 mammals
    • 488 birds
    • 468 fish
    • 22 amphibians
    • 18 reptiles
  • More large-mammal species than any other part of North America including; deer, elk, moose, caribou, bison, mountain goat, gray wolf, lynx, cougar, black bear, grizzly bear and wolverine
  • 75% of the world’s Stone Sheep
  • 60% of the world’s mountain goats
  • 25% of the world’s grizzle bears and bald eagles
  • Nine species of snake: Common Garter; Great Basin Gopher; Night; Northern Pacific Rattlesnake; Northwestern Garter; Rubber Boa; Sharptail; Western Terrestrial Garter; Western Yellow Bellied Racer.
  • 4 species of lizard and 5 species of turtle
  • One heck of a lot of salmon!

burrowing owlMore than six million hectares (15 million acres) of protected areas and special management zones have been designated to conserve wildlife habitat in the region.

According to the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, “152 wildlife species and sub-species are considered candidates for endangered, threatened, or vulnerable status. Three of these are legally designated (by the provincial government) as endangered in B.C., the Burrowing Owl, the American White Pelican and the Vancouver Island Marmot. The Sea Otter is designated as threatened.”

Stay at any Accent Inns location, or Hotel Zed and you’ll not be far from wildlife. The Kamloops and Kelowna locations are particularly close to wonderful wildlife watching opportunities. In fact, the official Reptiles of BC website is hosted by Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops (http://www.bcreptiles.ca) and the BC Wildlife Park (http://www.bcwildlife.org) is also situated in Kamloops just 15 minutes from Kamloops Accent Inn.

Mike Wicks
Blue Beetle Creative

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