Put an end to trophy hunting

Last year, a widely shared video exposed Canadians to the sight of a once-majestic grizzly bear thrashing about in agony and confusion as he slid and tumbled down a steep hill, his blood smearing the snow as the men who shot him multiple times laughed and cheered in exultation.

Most of us who watched this killing are likely welcoming the news that the New Democratic Party of B.C. recently pledged to ban the trophy hunting of grizzly bears across the province if elected in May.

The NDP deserve praise for the move, and all of the major parties should introduce similar policies so that no matter what the election outcome will be, B.C.’s grizzlies will be properly protected. This would go a long way toward bringing the province’s wildlife laws and regulations more in line with most British Columbians’ values.

Aside from the inherent cruelty and utterly disrespectful nature of killing a large animal simply to hang its head, pelt and other body parts on a wall, trophy hunting of grizzly bears is also a conservation issue. Independent scientists have found that the B.C. government might be grossly overestimating current grizzly population levels, and that hunting is likely contributing to the bears’ population decline.

Despite the government’s potential underestimations of grizzly mortality, nine of B.C.’s 57 grizzly populations are already listed as threatened. External factors such as resource extraction, increased encroachment of human populations, roads and railways, along with heavy declines in wild salmon — a staple in grizzlies’ diets — are putting this species at serious risk.

A broad array of stakeholders in B.C. agree that a provincewide ban on grizzly trophy hunting is long overdue, and none more so than B.C.’s Coastal First Nations, who in 2012 took the step of banning the hunt in their territory. Polling has shown that more than 90 per cent of British Columbians oppose trophy hunting.

This ban would also be in line with B.C.’s economic interests. According to a 2014 study by the Centre for Responsible Tourism and Stanford University, bear-viewing eco-tourism operations in the Great Bear Rainforest have been shown to bring in 12 times more visitor spending than trophy hunting of bears. Whereas trophy hunting in the Great Bear Rainforest created only 11 jobs in 2012, bear viewing can be credited with at least 510 in the same year.

Furthermore, B.C.’s Commercial Bear Viewing Association has said that their businesses can be negatively affected by trophy hunting, because people do not want to view bears knowing that they will be hunted.

So it is time for the province to choose. Do British Columbians want to support the growing and thriving ecotourism industry while protecting one of their most iconic species from careless and inexcusable cruelty, or are they content to maintain the status quo?

It is hoped all major parties will take a close look at the independent scientific reports, economic assessments and polling numbers, and make what is clearly the right decision by joining the NDP in promising a full ban on trophy hunting of grizzlies.

Whichever party introduces such a ban will have to be diligent to ensure its effectiveness. If regulations are written or enforced in such a way that hunters may still kill grizzlies as trophies under the guise of hunting the bears for meat, then the policy will have failed.

NDP Leader John Horgan has already said he will not allow this to happen, and he is to be commended for that, but if he and his party are elected to power in May, it will be up to the public to keep them accountable.

For the first time in more than a decade, real protections for B.C.’s grizzly bears are in sight. In the lead-up to the May 2017 B.C .election, we have a small but significant window of opportunity to prevent more chilling videos of wounded grizzlies from popping up in our social-media news feeds. Let’s not waste it.

Gabriel Wildgen is a campaign manager for Humane Society International/Canada.