H Y O P T D N E
Black bear hunts you can expect to see between five to 10 bears on an average day hunting. The autumn hunts coincide with the annual salmon run in the island’s rivers.
“At this time the bears are extremely active, feeding to put on weight before their winter hibernation.
“Extremely nutritious food sources such as salmon help the bears to grow very large.”
Bloodthirsty customers can shoot the bears with ease from boats when the animals go to the river for food.
A review on the website of one operator, North Island Guide Outfitters, said: “We are happy hunters. What great bears we all three shot. We have had a big smile on our face for a week now. We all had a great time.”
Campaigners have blasted hunting companies for revelling in the slaughter of black bears, which is not illegal because they are not endangered.
The Mirror is campaigning to outlaw the vile hobby and to ban hunters from bringing their sick souvenirs back to Britain.
Eduardo Goncalves of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting said: “The conservation status of a fun-hunted species is irrelevant – trophy hunting is wrong, pure and simple. And if black bears aren’t endangered now, they soon will be if trophy hunting continues.
“Trophy hunters always like to go after the biggest male bears.
“This skewing of the gender ratio of adult populations has been found in polar bears to seriously affect the numbers of cubs born.
“You’re also taking the best genes out of the gene pool. This means the species is more prone to diseases and being affected by environmental conditions such as climate change.
“It’s happened to polar bears and looks to be happening to brown bears too. It’s only a matter of time before the same happens to black bears.”
It is estimated that between 120,000 and 130,000 black bears were shot for sport over the past decade and bear-hunting is the most popular form of trophy hunting on the planet.
Almost 12,000 trophies of bears were taken home by hunters in 2017 alone, according to the latest available figures from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
Mr Goncalves added: “Thanks to the huge numbers of black bears hunted every year, Canada is actually the global capital of the trophy hunting industry.
“More hunting trophies are exported from Canada than any other country, even South Africa.
“In some cases, bears are being hunted supposedly for trophies but in reality for their gall bladders, which often find their way into Asian
Young lad holds paw
Another family gather around their sick kill
EDUARDO GONCALVES markets. Here they are turned into pseudo-medicinal products.
“There is a huge push by the trophyhunting industry to get young children involved. The average age of the trophy hunting community is going up as its social acceptability falls.
“So the industry is desperately trying to recruit youngsters in order to keep itself going.”
British Columbia banned the hunting of grizzly bears in 2017 but the hunting of black bears is not prohibited.
According to a 2016 assessment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, black bear numbers are increasing and, thanks to this, Canada is the world’s biggest exporter of hunting trophies. While US citizens
THE CAMPAIGN TO BAN TROPHY HUNTING are still the biggest customer, a fastgrowing number of Chinese hunters are travelling to North America to shoot black bears. In 2017, 14% of all black bear trophies ended up in China and Hong Kong.
Mr Goncalves added: “There is evidence to suggest trophy hunting is acting as a front for illicit trade in gall bladders, which are popular with the Asian traditional medicine market.
“CITES records show that almost 5,000 galls and gall bladders were traded under the guise of bear trophies in recent years.
“Most were from black bears, but some were from brown and even polar bears. Some of these ‘trophies’ made their way directly to known gall ‘medicine’ markets including Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, as well as Hong Kong. The biggest shipment – a single consignment of 3,600 galls – went from Russia to Lithuania.”
The Mirror has previously exposed trophy hunting in the Canadian province of Alberta, where one hunter cruelly speared a black bear to death.
But the sick tours continue.
If black bears aren’t endangered now, they soon will be if this continues