Fresh calls to ban grizzly bear trophy hunting
Posted March 28, 2017 7:34 pm.
Last Updated March 28, 2017 7:41 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) – Animal conservationists and middle school students are banding together to call for an end to the trophy hunting of grizzly bears in British Columbia.
Humane Society International/Canada, Pacific Wild and students from Glenlyon Norfolk school want an immediate moratorium on the practice before the spring bear hunting season begins on April 1st.
In the longer term, they want the BC Government to implement a permanent ban.
Gabriel Wildgen, a campaign manager for Humane Society International/Canada, says the provincial government has been inactive on the issue. “We’re hoping the government will take urgent action. We don’t want to see any more grizzly bears killed for trophies in British Columbia.”
The BC NDP Opposition has pledged to stop the practice of grizzly bear trophy hunting if it wins the upcoming provincial election.
Of the 56 grizzly bear populations in BC, nine are classified as threatened. Environmental Reporting BC says since 1976, an average of 297 grizzly bears are legally killed by hunters each year. A 2012 report by the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations estimated there were around 15,000 grizzly bears in the province.
