Court issues $6,000 in fines to two people who killed Tex, the B.C. grizzly

TEXADA ISLAND, BRITISH COLUMBIA — Two people who killed a controversial grizzly bear on Texada Island off the B.C. coast last year have been fined a combined $6,000 by a provincial court judge.

The B.C. Conservation Officer Service says in a news release that the two residents of the island pleaded guilty and were sentenced on Thursday for failing to promptly report the wounding or killing of a grizzly.

Residents on the island were divided about what should be done with the bear, which had already been moved away from other areas and had stalked people and harassed livestock in the weeks before it was killed.

The bear, nicknamed Tex, was found dead by conservation officers last July after the RCMP received a report that the bear had been shot and wounded.

Conservation officers had said the bear was not a good candidate for relocation again, but the local First Nation offered to make a plan to move Tex and was given approval by the B.C. government.

The conservation service says each accused was fined $3,000 and $2,000 of that will go toward the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 5, 2026.

The Canadian Press