Breaking news ... Grizzly bear hunt demise

[Rob Chipman]

Scout:

Makes sense that supplying bears with roadkill would create more, not fewer, problems. Hard to believe someone thought it would be otherwise unless you were picking it up off the road and train tracks really fast and then dropping it by air to grizzlies in very remote areas. Otherwise it's going to tell grizzlies humans=food, and that generally ends up killing bears.

[Wild one]

Scout:

Makes sense that supplying bears with roadkill would create more, not fewer, problems. Hard to believe someone thought it would be otherwise unless you were picking it up off the road and train tracks really fast and then dropping it by air to grizzlies in very remote areas. Otherwise it's going to tell grizzlies humans=food, and that generally ends up killing bears.

Hence why some places have don't feed the bear's signs lol

[scoutlt1]

Scout:

Makes sense that supplying bears with roadkill would create more, not fewer, problems. Hard to believe someone thought it would be otherwise unless you were picking it up off the road and train tracks really fast and then dropping it by air to grizzlies in very remote areas. Otherwise it's going to tell grizzlies humans=food, and that generally ends up killing bears.

Seems like a very strange idea to me.

I'm going to try and find out the details of this program. Not only the "reasoning" behind its conception, but also how and why it was concluded it "didn't work".

[scoutlt1]

http://sci-northern.ab.ca/wp-content..._Morehouse.pdf

http://crowsnestconservation.ca/volu...rcept-feeding/

http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.2192/URSU-D-16-00026.1

[Greenthumbed]

My MLA is Michelle mungall. She stated before the election that her number one priority if the NDP formed government would be to ban the grizzly hunt (not create jobs, improve medical delivery, or improve education...). A meeting with her would be fruitless. Instead, I will work hard in 4 years to see that she loses her seat. The Liberal candidate in our riding was actually a fairly close second.

Hey 325,

The MLA in my riding is Doug Clovechock. He's a Liberal. When I wrote to him voicing my concerns about this recent grizzly bear issue and the state of wildlife conservation in our province he was very quick to respond. In fact he responded the very same evening that I wrote to him. He made it clear that we were on the same page on these issues and that he had already condemned the NDP's moves as political pandering and their solution was beyond flawed and had nothing to do with science based wildlife management. He also went on to say that he is a fellow resident hunter and that he will continue to be a vocal advocate for hunters, anglers, and trappers. He ended his letter to me by stating that he would make sure that my words were shared in the Legislature.

I think that having an MLA with a differing view is all the more reason to write to her and share your concerns and reasons for those concerns. The more people that write to her with like minded concerns may make start to consider a change of heart. After all, as your local representative to the Legisature it is not her position to bring her own personal views to the Legisalture by those of her constituents. You need to let her know!

[325]

Hey 325,

The MLA in my riding is Doug Clovechock. He's a Liberal. When I wrote to him voicing my concerns about this recent grizzly bear issue and the state of wildlife conservation in our province he was very quick to respond. In fact he responded the very same evening that I wrote to him. He made it clear that we were on the same page on these issues and that he had already condemned the NDP's moves as political pandering and their solution was beyond flawed and had nothing to do with science based wildlife management. He also went on to say that he is a fellow resident hunter and that he will continue to be a vocal advocate for hunters, anglers, and trappers. He ended his letter to me by stating that he would make sure that my words were shared in the Legislature.

I think that having an MLA with a differing view is all the more reason to write to her and share your concerns and reasons for those concerns. The more people that write to her with like minded concerns may make start to consider a change of heart. After all, as your local representative to the Legisature it is not her position to bring her own personal views to the Legisalture by those of her constituents. You need to let her know!

I suppose you're correct. I will write to her this week nothing to lose....

[HarryToolips]

My MLA is Michelle mungall. She stated before the election that her number one priority if the NDP formed government would be to ban the grizzly hunt (not create jobs, improve medical delivery, or improve education...). A meeting with her would be fruitless. Instead, I will work hard in 4 years to see that she loses her seat. The Liberal candidate in our riding was actually a fairly close second.

You should mention exactly that in a letter to the editor in your local paper..

[Fisher-Dude]

Grizzly hunt ban aims at cities


John Horgan’s NDP rushes announcement to raise money


TOM FLETCHER Mon Aug 21st, 2017 10:30am COLUMNISTS OPINION





Illustration for NDP fundraising pitch rolled out on social media after policy change was announced. (Facebook)


Within hours of announcing their ill-considered “ban” on grizzly bear trophy hunting, the B.C. NDP had a party fundraising pitch out on social media. Taxpayer-funded government ads soon followed.

Stikine MLA Doug Donaldson was marched out to make the announcement, repeating a thin list of talking points dictated from Premier John Horgan’s office. For this, Donaldson was diverted from the raging forest fires he has faced since assuming responsibility for the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations a month ago.

Donaldson insisted that B.C.’s grizzly hunt is not used as a wildlife management tool. It’s not? So why was the grizzly bear quota increased last year? To sell a few more tags and guided safaris to vacationing NHL hockey players, as some in the Vancouver media seem to believe?

The quota was increased because the population is growing, and a proliferation of grizzlies has significant effects on other animals, and on people. Seeing grizzly sows with triplets is a good indicator, as is a B.C. study done last year by wildlife biologists at the University of Alberta and the University of Minnesota.

Donaldson insisted the lottery grizzly hunt is not used to manage the population, and that the harvest level is based on what is sustainable. I guess he can’t see the contradiction there. He avoided admitting that this fall’s hunt is going ahead and compensation will have to be paid for guide-outfitter territories so the NDP government won’t get sued.

Meat hunting for grizzlies will still be allowed, but the hide, head and paws must be left behind. Demand for grizzly meat has dropped sharply since the Stone Age wrapped up.

Professional protesters trumpeted another victory. Urban folks swooned. “This makes me feel good,” said one, precisely capturing the true intent of this gesture. Some rural people might not feel so good, not to mention the Conservation Officers faced with shooting “problem bears” forced down to populated valley bottoms in search of survival.

Donaldson’s northern neighbour, Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad, was aboriginal relations minister in the last government. Aboriginal leaders have told him rising populations are a problem in some remote regions.

“We’ve interfered with nature,” Rustad said. “We’ve built cities, we’ve built roads, we have resource development. So we need to be able to manage species based on science. They do this even with the black rhino in Africa and other species around the world.”

Then there are the declining moose populations in the B.C. Interior, subject to a study ongoing for years. Moose, not the 200-odd grizzlies taken in an average year, are the staple of B.C.’s resident and guided hunting. Grizzlies and other predators target moose calves in spring.

“You’ve got farmers, ranchers in the Cariboo that have lost livelihood because of major fires,” Rustad said. “A number of these people also guide-outfit or are involved in hunting.”

Donaldson stressed a ban on all grizzly hunting in the Great Bear Rainforest, something that was essentially done already in conjunction with the American environmentalists who front for most of the aboriginal communities there.

That does not include the Nisga’a Nation, which operates its own guide-outfitter business nearby, with spring and fall hunts for mountain goat, black bears and grizzlies. In fact all aboriginal people are exempt from provincial wildlife regulations.

This winter the NDP government will face a decision to continue the wolf kill that is attempting to salvage remnant caribou herds in the Kootenay and Peace regions. Will that also be cancelled to make urban voters feel good?

Tom Fletcher is B.C. legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press. Email: tfletcher@blackpress.ca Twitter: @tomfletcherbc

http://www.wltribune.com/opinion/gri...ims-at-cities/

[limit time]

**** you guys are crying like you didn't know this was going to happen....

[limit time]

Just wait till they say you have to leave black bear hide in the bush.