Search for B.C.'s Best Symbol: Animal Championship

The Search for B.C.'s Best Symbol started with more than 300 nominations, but most of the final eight entries in our friendly summer competition are what you might have picked without a public vote. 

B.C.'s official flag, mammal (spirit bear), tree (western red cedar) and flower (Pacific dogwood) have all made the quarterfinals. 

So have the No. 1 seeds in each of our four quadrants — orca for animals, red cedar for nature, totem poles for coastal, and the flag for provincial. 

There are no underdogs left in the running, just iconic elements of this province that are celebrated internally and often used to attract tourist from around the world.

And that includes the two finalists in the animal section: the spirit bear and orca.

Battle of the megafauna 

In some ways, the two animals are mirror images of each other on land and sea: charismatic megafauna, low in numbers, the subject of environmental campaigns to save them, distinct from other similar species because of their white markings. 

The orca arguably might be the favourite in this matchup. It has won each of its three matchups with more than 80 per cent of the vote — the spirit bear has had between 53 and 75 per cent in past votes — and among its many supporters is the mayor of Vancouver. 

"You see them out on the water, it's just one of those iconic figures that you don't see much elsewhere," said Ken Sim, when asked for his choice for B.C.'s best symbol, adding that "as a long-suffering Canucks fan" he appreciates the orca's placement on the team's jerseys. 

"It's an amazing, beautiful creature."

But the spirit bear — with its white fur due to a recessive gene passed on through black bears in coastal B.C. — also has plenty of fans. An international campaign to preserve its habitat a generation ago attracted supporters as diverse as Jane Goodall and the Backstreet Boys. In recent years Ryan Reynolds narrated a documentary about the bears and the rainforest where they reside. 

However, celebrity and political endorsements don't matter in this very scientific and objective competition. Only your vote does. 

Polls are open until 10 p.m. PT. Which animal will you choose?  

How the Kitasoo/Xai'xais First Nation is working to protect spirit bears

2 years ago

Duration 3:36

B.C.'s central coast is home to one of the rarest animals on earth: the spirit bear. The Kitasoo/Xai'xais First Nation has been trying to protect it at all costs for several decades, but the salmon stocks on which the bears feed is in decline.

How orcas became such a big symbol of British Columbia

10 days ago

Duration 2:15

They were once seen by many as threatening monsters, but today are beloved. How did the perception of orcas change so much? Justin McElroy reports.