Post by: sisu on August 30, 2009, 03:29:32 PM
A coalition of environmental and First Nations groups in B.C. is urging the provincial government to end trophy hunting of bears in the Great Bear Rainforest, which stretches from just north of Vancouver to the Alaska border.
At a news conference Tuesday, the coalition called on the Liberals to stop trophy hunting before the opening of the spring bear hunt on April 1.
"It is time for the provincial government to heed public opinion, the best available science and economics by giving these magnificent animals the protection they need to survive," said Bruce Passmore, director of outreach for Humane Society International/Canada.
Trophy hunters gunned down 370 grizzly bears in 2007, the coalition said. That figure, added to the number of bears poached for their valuable gall bladders, means the bear hunt is not sustainable, the coalition said.
The coalition launched a public awareness campaign on Tuesday with full-page newspaper ads. It will take its message across Canada and to the U.S. and Europe.
'We've spent years to ensure our lands are protected, only to learn that trophy hunters can continue to come on our lands and kill bears for sport.'
— Kitasoo-Xaixais Chief Percy Starr"The white spirit bear may be protected from trophy hunting in the Great Bear Rainforest; however, the black bear, which carries the recessive gene necessary for the genetic diversity of white bears, can still be killed," said Ian McAllister, director of Pacific Wild.
The Great Bear Rainforest stretches more than 400 kilometres along the coast of British Columbia, including the islands offshore.
Three years ago, the province agreed to protect the region, instituting new rules for logging and focusing on conservation.
The region is home to grizzly, brown and black bears, as well as the Kermode, or "spirit bear," a genetically unique subspecies of black bear with white fur.
Hunting benefits overlooked
Countering the coalition, the Guide Outfitters Association of British Columbia, which promotes wise conservation and use of all natural resources, said the benefits of bear hunting are often overlooked.
Hunters provide the majority of funding for conservation, so one of the best ways to maintain a healthy grizzly population is to allow hunting, a spokesperson said. Also, the hunting industry brings in about $350 million to the province annually.
Kitasoo-Xaixais Chief Percy Starr said he is disappointed that all species of bears in their traditional territory are not protected.
"We've spent years to ensure our lands are protected, only to learn that trophy hunters can continue to come on our lands and kill bears for sport," Starr said in a news release
Environment Minister Barry Penner said the provincial government has taken steps to ensure there is a sustainable population of bears.
"The good news is that the grizzly bear population is either stable or growing in population," he said, adding that the province is not considering a ban on bear hunting
British Columbia Grizzly Hunt Suspended for the First Time Ever
For the first time in Canadian history, grizzly bears in the Province of British Columbia (BC) will not face hunters' bullets when they emerge from hibernation this spring.
Since the arrival of Europeans, grizzlies have been driven from 99 percent of their range in the continental United States, and much of Canada. BC forms the heartland of the species' remaining habitat, with the future of US populations to the south dependent on BC's bears, of which only 4-6,000 may remain.
As evidence has grown that hunting 300 of this officially at risk species each year in BC is unsustainable, so has the number of people who consider it unethical to sport hunt North America's slowest reproducing land mammal.
On an ecological level, some of the world's leading grizzly experts have expressed concern over the hunt for years, culminating in 68 professional biologists petitioning the BC Government in 1999. With fee-paying foreign tourists killing about half of all grizzlies hunted in BC in order to take the trophies home, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) decided to seek a ban on these exports under Canada's obligations to CITES—the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. As a result, in January biologists commissioned by the Canadian Government to review the issue sharply criticized the hunt, one stating "My professional opinion is that the hunt will be, and has been, harmful to the survival of grizzly bear populations."
As for economics, grizzly bear viewing is already worth far more than grizzly hunting, and tourism as a whole is worth $10 billion per year to BC. So it caused a huge stir last year when 50 UK and Irish travel companies and over 100 BC-based tourism businesses called for a suspension of the hunt because it harms the image of BC as a tourism destination.
With opinion polls showing 80 percent of people in BC supporting a ban, it was to widespread acclaim when the BC Premier announced in February a three year grizzly hunt moratorium whilst reliable population studies are carried out. The Premier described it as "…a prudent decision to protect and sustain grizzly bears in BC."
ACTION There is one shadow hanging over the moratorium. The BC Liberal Party (which is ahead in the polls) currently plans to overturn it if elected later this year. Please write to the BC Liberal party urging them to reconsider:
And a link to a First Nations site:
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Humane-Society-International-Canada-962448.html
Post by: littlebuf on August 30, 2009, 07:15:57 PM