Canadian province to ban grizzly bear trophy hunt

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

The Telegraph

Rob Crilly

A Canadian province is banning the controversial sport of hunting grizzly bears for trophies amid overwhelming public opposition to the practice.

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Ministers in British Columbia said this season – for which permits have already been issued - will be the last, with all trophy hunting banned on November 30.

Doug Donaldson, natural resource operations minister, said the ban had not been introduced because unsustainable numbers of bears were being killed but because the practice was no longer socially acceptable.

“By bringing trophy hunting of grizzlies to an end, we’re delivering on our commitment to British Columbians,” he said. “This action is supported by the vast majority of people across our province.”

Trophy hunting was reintroduced 16 years ago by the previous Liberal government, provoking a long running campaign by conservationists to reinstate the ban.

The Liberals were ousted in July by the New Democratic Party which ran on a promise to end the hunt.

A recent poll found that about 90 per cent of the population were opposed to trophy hunting.

There are an estimated 15,000 grizzly bears in British Columbia. And each year, approximately 250 are killed by hunters.

Although the trophy hunt will end, hunting for meat will be allowed to continue in all but one forest.

Indigenous groups have asked that no hunting at all be allowed in the Great Bear Rainforest, which runs along British Columbia’s Pacific coast.

The decision was welcomed by conservationists.

Joe Foy, of the Wilderness Committee, said about 4,000 grizzlies had been killed since the trophy hunt was reinstated.

“We’re glad the senseless killing of grizzly bears is coming to an end. Now this at-risk species has a better chance to recover,” she said.

But Andrew Weaver, of the Green Party, dismissed the ban as a stunt. He said by focusing only on trophies it did not go far enough to protect the bears.

“Foreign hunters will still be able to shoot grizzlies in British Columbia, take a picture of themselves standing over the dead beast, and head back home without harvesting any of the animal,” he said.

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