Bear hunting season begins on Thursday and conservationists say international pressure, a massive letter-writing campaign and overwhelming public support have done little to help ban trophy hunting on B.C.'s coast.
Author Ian McAllister is the co-founder of Pacific Wild, a non-profit wildlife conservation group that has campaigned to end sport hunting for decades. The group has garnered support from the David Suzuki Foundation, Greenpeace, the U.S. Humane Society and, as of 2009, activist Jane Goodall.
But despite escalating their campaign this year, McAllister says government talks have deteriorated.
"Communication has not been great," he said. "We really had hoped that the government would listen to the unbelievable outpouring of support on this issue. There have been thousands of letters sent to the province over the past months."
The perseverance of trophy hunting could have something to do with fee revenues. A 10-day bear hunting trip in the province costs more than $2,200 in tags, licenses and royalties alone, and the guide industry boasts a $120-million contribution to the B.C. economy
Grizzly hunting in particular draws a lot of attention from international tourists. Private companies advertise grizzlies as the "ultimate challenge" for seasoned hunters, and claim their limited grizzly licenses are sold out years in advance.
"We're not against hunting per-se," McAllister said. "I'm a hunter myself. We're against the gratuitous sport hunting of bears. Killing an animal for pleasure to put a trophy on the wall."
And public opinion appears to be in their favour. An Ipsos Reid poll taken in 2009 suggests that 78 per cent of British Columbians oppose trophy hunting in the Great Bear Rainforest, which stretches from Alaska down to the northern tip of Vancouver Island along the coast.
But the B.C. Guide Outfitters Association says hunting is necessary for wildlife management, and compares a ban on bear hunting to letting forest fires burn uncontrolled.
"It is also irresponsible to allow wildlife to exceed their carrying capacity and die from starvation or disease," a release from the organization reads. "In the United States, where grizzly bears are protected, the animal's survival rates are the same as they are in Canada's national parks."
McAllister says though B.C.'s grizzly population is estimated at between 16,000 and 17,000, it is still at risk. Roughly 2,000 have been killed since 2001, he said, when Premier Gordon Campbell lifted a moratorium on grizzly hunting – and biological factors add to the risk of a dwindling population.
"Grizzly bears are the second slowest reproducing mammal in North America, next to the polar bear," he said.
The government has taken steps to protect the population; Environment Minister Barry Penner closed off 470,00 hectares of hunting land last year, and increased maximum penalties for B.C. Wildlife Act offences from $50,000 to $250,000.
But McAllister said if the government really wants to represent the public's interest, they will ban trophy hunting outright.
"British Columbians, even in rural communities, support an end to the trophy hunt," he said. "It would make a lot of tax payers very happy to know the government did the right thing."
More information on Pacific Wild and the B.C. Guide Outfitters Association is available at their websites.
