The provincial government sniffed the wind and followed the strong scent of environmentalism. It has banned hunting grizzly bears throughout sa国际传媒 Although guide outfitters say the decision was based on emotion rather than science, the move is not surprising. The NDP has bent strongly in a green direction, even before its alliance with the Green Party.
In the wake of the decision to continue the Site C dam project, which infuriated many party supporters, the NDP needed to chalk up something on the environmentalist side of the ledger. Politically, it鈥檚 an easy call because guide outfitters are unlikely to be NDP voters.
In August, the province banned trophy hunting of grizzlies as of Nov. 30, but allowed food hunts to continue. Many hunt opponents complained that allowed hunters to continue trophy hunting under the guise of a food hunt.
The new ban prohibits all hunting of grizzlies, except by First Nations who hunt for treaty rights or for food, social and ceremonial reasons. First Nations hunters kill about 50 bears a year, and non-Indigenous hunters kill about 250, out of a population of about 15,000 bears. About 1,700 permits to hunt grizzlies were issued in 2017.
The government acted after public consultations where it got an earful from opponents of hunting.
鈥淚t is no longer socially acceptable to the vast majority of British Columbians to hunt grizzly bears,鈥� Forests Minister Doug Donaldson said Monday. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the message.鈥�
Guide outfitters, who predict that some of their number will go out of business, said the message seemed to matter more than the science. The sa国际传媒 Liberals agreed.
鈥淚t鈥檚 sad to see the NDP have abandoned scientific-based decision making in favour of political calculus designed to appease U.S.-based environmental groups,鈥� Opposition politicians John Rustad and Peter Milobar said in a statement.
Donaldson did say that the current population of grizzlies is sustainable.
Both sides could point to an auditor general鈥檚 report two months ago that said sa国际传媒 needs a stronger management strategy for the bears, and the province doesn鈥檛 do enough to monitor populations.
The auditor鈥檚 report found that government departments hadn鈥檛 fulfilled their commitments to managing grizzlies. It also said that degradation of habitat is a greater threat to bears than is hunting.
To hunters, that means bears have much bigger problems than hunting. To environmentalists, it means hunting is one of many threats that have to be reduced to protect the grizzlies.
鈥淭he easy decision is done,鈥� said Rachel Forbes, head of the Grizzly Bear Foundation. 鈥淣ow the hard work on addressing all the other cumulative threats to grizzly bears, such as habitat loss and food supply, has to begin.鈥�
If we value the grizzly bear, as we should, that complex environmental work must be done. The 鈥渆asy decision,鈥� however, was made for more human reasons.
Joe Foy of the Wilderness Committee said: 鈥淲e are grateful that the government has finally stepped up to do what the people have asked for, which is an end to this barbaric, bloody sport hunt.鈥�
That is not the voice of science, it鈥檚 the voice of moral outrage. Sometimes, despite our capacity for logic, we make decisions for moral reasons.
