Rare Kermode spirit bear hit by car in northwestern B.C.

It was a close call for one of British Columbia's rarest and most cherished animals.

A white Kermode bear, also known as a spirit bear because of its white colour, was hit by a car on Highway 37, north of the village ofKitwangain the northwestern region of the province.

B.C. conservation officer Flint Knibbs says the wildlife reporting linereceived a number of calls about a Kermode sowbear in distress, so he headed out to see if he could find herand her two black cubs.

"I've never been in a situation where I've had to put (a bear) down and I wasn't looking forward to that,"Knibbs told CBC over the phone.

As luck would have it, when Knibbsdiscovered the bears, they all appeareduninjured, as evidenced by thevideo he took from the safety of his truck.

"At one point in the video she even gives one of the cubs a little swat, so in my opinion she was doing fine and didn't need any interference from us."

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It's estimated there are fewer than 400Kermodebearslivingon the north and central coasts of the province. Seeing one isextremely rare.

Kermodesare actuallyblack bears, but possessa double recessive gene that gives them their white colour.