While wikipedia may not be perfect it's a much more accurate source than most of the other studies and opinion pieces floating around the web. Just because it may not agree with your point of view doesn't make it less credible. Anyways, came across this on facebook (another great source of info
this morning. I am sure some on here will dismiss it immediately as it was done by the Suzuki Foundation but science is science and despite what some people say science doesn't lean left or right when done properly.
Article on bear population studies in BC
British Columbia's controversial annual grizzly bear hunt leaves more of the animals dead than even the province's own wildlife guidelines allow, claims a new report to be released Thursday by the David Suzuki Foundation that once again calls on the government to curb the trophy hunt.
The report's release comes on the first day of this year's grizzly hunt, in which hundreds of the bears will be killed by trophy hunters around the province - a practice that critics have long said is unsustainable and must stop.
"This is new science that really questions the sustainability of the hunt," Faisal Moola of the foundation said in an interview.
"This is a disaster in the waiting. If we do not act to protect the species given what we know about its vulnerabilities, we may no longer have bears."
The report uses provincial government records to examine the number of grizzly bears that were killed by humans between 2004 and 2008 and compares them with the province's own limits for what it calls the allowable human-caused mortality rate.
B.C.'s grizzly bears are divided into 57 different population areas.
The report says in 20 of those, hunting alone accounted for more grizzly deaths than the province's allowable mortality rates at least once during the five-year period of the study.
This physically impossible as bears are on a very strict draw system. So tell me if the Gov allows 2 draws and both are filled, how can the Suzuki foundation say it was over the mortality rates allowed???? Unless they throw in all the "Other" human factors, like poaching and the triple SSS, which is as far away from hunting as it is from fishing. Another bunch of BS from a group that wants to shut down everything that "They" don't like..........
When combined with other human-caused grizzly deaths - including legal kills by wildlife management officials and illegal poaching - the mortality rates were exceeded at least once in 36 areas, or 63 per cent.
So how can this be blamed on hunting???? More BS......but it is so easy to point the fingers at hunters. Why is the SF not going after the main reason why the CO are shooting problem bears??? Because they would not garner media and other greenies attention and the all mighty $$$$$ for which most of these organizations are really based on.
That higher number, says Mr. Moola, is the most important, because it shows that too many bears are killed even when the hunt doesn't push the grizzly deaths over the limits.
"You can't look at trophy hunting in isolation - you have to look at trophy hunting in addition to the other sources of human-caused mortality," said Mr. Moola.
"What the study shows is that if you removed trophy hunting from the picture, you would actually drop the mortality rate below what the government thinks is sustainable."
So easy to remove the only actual regulated program that is causing the death of a few bears. Again, why not go after the real problems, the loss of habitat, the idiots who attract these problem bears, hiring more CO's to stop poaching and the people who think all bears are warm and cuddly....... I bet not one environmental group has been in the Bella Coola Valley to help farmers/ranchers and home owners understand that having apples and other fruit on the ground, a compost, not cleaning out your chicken coop etc. attracts bears and results in them being killed. Another thing to think about when I say it the tip of the spear to stop all hunting. It's not about hunting bears, it's about stopping all hunting. because if it was just about the bears, they would be doing more than just jumping up and down about the hunt.
The report is accompanied by a letter to Premier Gordon Campbell, signed by eight grizzly bear experts from Canada and the United States, urging the provincial government to establish a province-wide network of no-hunting zones.
British Columbia is estimated to be home to half of all grizzlies in Canada, and a quarter of the North American grizzly population.
B.C.'s grizzlies are considered a species of "special concern" by both the federal and provincial governments because of their slow reproductive rates and susceptibility to human activities.
Grizzly hunting is restricted in parts of the province, but every year a trophy hunt opens up throughout much of British Columbia during the spring and fall. The David Suzuki Foundation report estimates that, since 2001, an average of 253 bears a year have been killed by hunters in B.C.
There have been perennial calls for the hunt to be scrapped, but the Liberal government has consistently rejected those calls, arguing the hunt is sustainable and properly managed.
In 2001, the NDP government of the day implemented a moratorium on grizzly hunting, but that was overturned a few months later after the Liberals took power.
The David Suzuki Foundation released preliminary results from its latest study last month, prompting the province to issue a statement insisting it is committed to protecting grizzly bears.
The province noted it has closed almost two million hectares of land to grizzly hunting along the North and Central Coasts, and there are other strict no-kill zones elsewhere in the province.
Last year, when First Nations and conservation groups called for a hunting ban in an area known as the Great Bear Rainforest, B.C.'s premier suggested there were competing interests that needed to be taken into account.
"It's an issue where we're working hard to strike the appropriate balance," Mr. Campbell said in May 2009.
There are differing opinions on the health of bear populations in British Columbia, and conservation groups such as the David Suzuki Foundation suggest the government's current methods to estimate how bears are actually roaming the wilderness are flawed.
Alberta placed a moratorium on grizzly bear hunting in 2006, and is currently examining whether to keep the ban or revisit the issue.
Last year, the Manitoba government added grizzly bears to a list of species protected under the provincial wildlife act.
Grizzly bears have been extinct from Manitoba for a century, but migrant bears from Nunavut have been spotted, raising hopes the species is making a return.
