Call to end Black & Grizzly bear hunt in BC

[gibb]

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/03/...0291237405637/

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 18 (UPI) -- A challenge to the province of British Columbia has been raised by Canadian Indians and animal rights activists to end the annual "trophy" hunt of bears.

At a Vancouver news conference, flanked by Humane Society International officials and Pacific Wild activists, Kitasoo Indian Chief Percy Starr appealed for a ban on the killing of grizzlies and black bears for sport, the Vancouver Sun reported.

Art Sterritt of Coastal First Nations said the hunt, in which people pay guides as much as $20,000 for a grizzly bear and about $6,500 for a black bear, was a disgrace.

"Our elders have seen carcasses of bears floating down rivers denuded of their hides and heads and paws," Sterritt said.

Environment Ministry spokeswoman Kate Thompson said there are about 16,000 grizzlies and 80,000 to 100,000 black bears in British Columbia, the report said.

The 30,000-member British Columbia Wildlife Federation has said bear hunting is sustainable in the province.

Provincial records indicate trophy hunters killed 317 grizzlies in 2008, down from 365 in 2007. For black bears, 3,476 were shot in 2006, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the newspaper said.

[elkhunter11]

Art Sterritt of Coastal First Nations said the hunt, in which people pay guides as much as $20,000 for a grizzly bear and about $6,500 for a black bear, was a disgrace.

And how many first nations people are making money by outfitting or working for outfitters that are making money by selling bear hunts?
I have seen several first nations people doing this.
They should look up the word hypocrisy!

[Bob sklapsky]

Right Art !! have your elders also seen Bald eagles off the reserves in Squamish piled in the bush with their tail feathers and talons removed ; or the cow moose and elk along the edges of back roads this time of year with only the hind quarters hacked off. Not everyone is a saint Art , including some your people. Bears are a renewable natural resource if they are managed and hunted properly . Give everyone the opportunity to choose or not to hunt bear .

[Kutenay]

This whole issue, which has been on-going for many years has NOTHING to do with conservation, management OR "bears". It is all a part of the attempt to wrest control of much of B.C. from we the public and invest "title" and "rights" in several groups of mixed-race people who use the totally meaningless term, "first nations" in reference to themselves.

WHY, one might ask, are all these comfortable, middle class foreigners, mostly from the U.S.A., so involved in this? Wellllllll, check out WHO is buying up the shoreline on B.C.s south coast and the Island and WONDER just "who" might SELL these lands without too much hassle when "they" get control.........

Remember "Oka" and the "sacred" Pine groves, which had to be "protected" from the evil ways of "whitey"......remember the NEXT year, with the "protectors" using "whiteys" chainsaws to cut down and SELL those VERY same "sacred" trees??????

I think that the REAL causes of this ludicrous situation are only too obvious.

[big-river]

Yup, a massive conspiracy by people who originated outside B.C. is exposed.

Where was your family from again?

[Kutenay]

What is happening here is INSIDE B.C., maybe pay a little more attention in reading posts?

Comments about families are probably not acceptable here, so, I won't take your comment further.

Are you among those in favour of this hunting ban, as it seems to me that your comment has little to do with preventing such a restriction which will impact ALL hunters.

The FACTS are that, in recent elections, as here in Vancouver, VERY wealthy foreign nationals from the U.S.A. contributed large sums to the N.D.P. candidate and other such situations have happened with the other parties. SO, given that wealthy Hollywood types and other foreigners have bought up B.C. coastal foreshore and then DENIED access to the Crown lands of the beach frontage, one can see that my comments are based on reality.

The foreigners interfering in B.C. politics are heavily invested in these lands and seem to want more, they are VERY anti-hunting, are VERY "green" and openly advocate an end to the bear hunt, among other hunts. Do YOU support this or are you merely commenting for other reasons?