Great Bear bound: congratulations Matthew Sanger

There are a number of ways we work to save wildlife and protect important habitat, but this one has been extra sweet so far.

Collaborating with Denman Island Chocolate and Coastal First Nations we recently launched a new campaign called Save the Great Bears to continue our work to end the recreational killing (trophy hunting) of grizzly bears in the Great Bear Rainforest.

During this collaboration, the #GrizzlyBar was born, and all we asked was for people to eat chocolate to save bears. And you did!

The extra sweet bonus: If you took a photo with your Grizzly Bar, posted it to social media and tagged us, or donated to the campaign, you were entered to win an epic adventure to the Great Bear Rainforest aboard our research vessel, Achiever.

Thank you to everyone who participated, enjoyed a Grizzly Bar or two, donated, and entered to win the trip.

We drew a winner and felt pretty thrilled when we got this response from Matthew:

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“I travelled the inside passage 40 years ago as a 17 year old hitchhiker, and have often longed to go back. So when I learned about your work to buy out the commercial hunting tenures I didn’t hesitate to donate. It’s practical and creative activism that I’m convinced is the way to make real change.

To be honest, I had forgotten about the draw for the trip so was astounded when I got the news. When Daniel Terry (Denman Island Chocolate) called, he told me it’s going to be a life-changing experience. Sign me up!

I’m immensely grateful to Raincoast Conservation Foundation and Denman Island Chocolate, and look forward to planning this trip!”

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Matthew will join us aboard the Achiever, and have the chance to get to meet some of the individual bears his participation in the campaign has helped save.

So what now?

Well, it’s not too late to donate and you can. Keep purchasing Denman Island Chocolate Grizzly Bars as your chocolate of choice, because proceeds continue to support our purchase of commercial hunting rights (tenures) for grizzly bears, and other large carnivores, in the Great Bear Rainforest. So, keep eating chocolate and saving bears.

What about your trip to the Great Bear?

There are also spaces still available on our research vessel Achiever for 2018, in case you had your heart set on visiting the bears you are helping to protect.

Stay tuned for updates for what’s next in the Save the Great Bears campaign. Thank you!

You can help

Raincoast’s in-house scientists, collaborating graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and professors make us unique among conservation groups. We work with First Nations, academic institutions, government, and other NGOs to build support and inform decisions that protect aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and the wildlife that depend on them. We conduct ethically applied, process-oriented, and hypothesis-driven research that has immediate and relevant utility for conservation deliberations and the collective body of scientific knowledge.

We investigate to understand coastal species and processes. We inform by bringing science to decision-makers and communities. We inspire action to protect wildlife and wildlife habitats.