Cruisin the 'Net
I'm on my lunch break, and I found this at Snopes:
A more fanciful explanation of the bear's origin comes from the Tsimshiam people, who once lived on the island. Long ago, the story goes, the world was covered in ice and snow. One day, the raven, the creator of the world, came down from heaven and turned the world green, as it is today. But as a reminder of the time when all was white, the raven went among the bears and turned every tenth one the color of snow. The raven decreed that the white bear, which the Tsimshiam call Moksgm'ol, would live forever in peace.
From this website. I can only say that I hope the conservation efforts work.
A more fanciful explanation of the bear's origin comes from the Tsimshiam people, who once lived on the island. Long ago, the story goes, the world was covered in ice and snow. One day, the raven, the creator of the world, came down from heaven and turned the world green, as it is today. But as a reminder of the time when all was white, the raven went among the bears and turned every tenth one the color of snow. The raven decreed that the white bear, which the Tsimshiam call Moksgm'ol, would live forever in peace.
From this website. I can only say that I hope the conservation efforts work.