Time to protect the Great Bear grizzlies

SCIENCE MATTERS by David Suzuki

• The agreement between government, industry, First Nations and environmental groups to protect much of the Great Bear Rainforest should be celebrated. The deal makes almost 85 percent of the forested land base in this massive region on BC’s coast off limits to logging. Forestry in the remaining 15 percent will follow “lighter-touch” practices, called “ecosystem-based management.” Most importantly, First Nations will have greater decision-making authority over industrial development on their lands.

However, while the agreement helps protect grizzly bear and other wildlife habitat, it doesn’t protect the bears themselves, contrary to BC Premier Christy Clark’s claims at a news conference. Hunting grizzly and black bears in the Great Bear remains legal.

The agreement actually contains no reference to grizzly hunting. To slow the hunt, First Nations and others must pony up millions of dollars to buy out existing guide outfitting territories open to foreign big-game hunters. Trophy hunting by BC residents – governed under a different process – will proceed regardless of whether First Nations and their allies purchase and retire foreign hunting quotas.

Had the government been serious about ending the barbaric hunt, it could have banned it outright under the province’s Wildlife Act or simply ended the open season on grizzlies in the Great Bear, as was done by earlier governments to protect the area’s Kermode “spirit bears.” Only bears with white fur are protected even though bears with black coats can carry the spirit bear gene. Despite the spin, the BC government has never recognized the Coastal First Nations ban on trophy hunting in the Great Bear Rainforest.

First Nations-owned and operated bear viewing operations are booming in the Great Bear Rainforest, creating jobs and revenue. The trophy hunt threatens these sustainable businesses. The grizzly bear trophy hunt is a sport, like dogfighting, cockfighting and bullfighting are sports, – maybe worse. Bears that people come to see and photograph can be legally shot by trophy hunters, armed with high-powered rifles and scopes. That the BC government allows it to continue in the face of opposition from First Nations and a huge majority of British Columbians for the sake of profit is disgusting. Shooting an animal – often on its way to feed and thus an easy target – just to hang its head on the wall or put its skin on the floor is not hunting. It’s killing for pleasure.

Government justifies allowing this practice by arguing the hunt is well-managed and that grizzlies are plentiful, with only a small number killed each year by hunters. Even if that were true – which it’s not – it’s a poor excuse for an inhumane practice.

Studies confirm earlier research by the David Suzuki Foundation showing the hunt is not sustainable. A peer-reviewed report by Simon Fraser University, University of Victoria and Raincoast Conservation Foundation scientists in the journal PLOS ONE analyzed the provincial government’s own data and concluded too many grizzlies are being killed in BC.

It’s time to stop killing bears for trophies.

—

Excerpted from the original article. David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Written with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Ontario and Northern Canada Director Faisal Moola. Learn more at www.davidsuzuki.org

The post Time to protect the Great Bear grizzlies appeared first on Common Ground.