Several advertisements will appear in BC’s major newspapers today, marking the upcoming unpopular trophy hunt. More than 80% of British Columbians, including Coastal First Nations and a majority of registered hunters, oppose the “sport” hunt of bears, according to public poll results. A total of 20 million people from 40 countries are represented by the ads, including tourism businesses, conservation groups and coastal First Nations.
In the internationally celebrated Great Bear Rainforest, Grizzly bears are about to be killed unless the BC government acts quickly, according to Ian McAllister of Pacific Wild in BC. A few miles from where I live is the spectacular Kwatna river, where four grizzly bears were killed for trophy in 2009, two of which were female. What kind of sport is it to kill female grizzly bears for trophy?
Grizzly bears are at risk because of habitat destruction in the Great Bear Rainforest, according to a report released last week by three B.C. environmental groups.
Facts:
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Over 2,000 grizzly bears have been killed for sport in British Columbia since Premier Gordon Campbell overturned a moratorium on trophy hunting in 2001.
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There are no hunting restrictions on the globally rare white Kermode bear, but over 98 percent of its natural range is open to trophy hunting in open seasons.
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Almost 80% of British Columbians oppose trophy hunting of bears, and the reasons for their opposition include science, ethics, and economics.
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There is much more revenue generated in British Columbia from bear viewing than from trophy hunting during the bear trophy hunt.
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In the traditional territories of coastal First Nations, bear trophy hunting is forbidding.
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