Jane Goodall joins campaign to end B.C. bear hunts
BY LARRY PYNN, VANCOUVER SUN Monday, MAY 11, 2009 5:01 PMPrimatologist and environmentalist Dr. Jane Goodall has added her voice to a growing international chorus calling on the B.C. government to ban the trophy hunting of bears on the province's coast.
Photograph by: Della Rollins, Calgary Herald
World-renowned chimpanzee researcher Jane Goodall has added her voice to a growing international chorus calling on the B.C. government to ban the trophy hunting of bears on the province's coast.
"I'm very distressed and shocked that the bear hunt — grizzly bear and black bear — is continuing in a country like Canada," Goodall said in a video being posted Monday to the YouTube website by the B.C. conservation group Pacific Wild.
"I've always found sports hunting, trophy hunting, to be, actually, I find it hard to understand, having worked for so long with chimpanzees and showing there is no sharp line separating us from the rest of the animal kingdom," Goodall said.
"These bears, they're such amazing, magnificent creatures and there are so many secrets still to discover about their lives."
In March, a coalition of coastal First Nation groups joined Pacific Wild and Humane Society International/Canada in Vancouver to announce an international campaign to pressure the government to end trophy hunting of bears on the B.C. coast, including Haida Gwaii (the Queen Charlotte Islands).
Through no coincidence, B.C. Environment Minister Barry Penner announced additional restrictions on where the bears can be hunted on the same day, effective June 2009, bringing the total area closed to grizzly bear hunting to 1.9 million hectares along the central and north coast.
Contacted on the provincial election campaign trail this week, Penner chose not to respond to Goodall's comments.
In her 90-minute video, which contains images of grizzly bears shot for sport and foraging in the wild for food, Goodall says that trophy hunting is "indiscriminately killing bears who may be part of some big picture" relating to their survival in Canada.
She says she "very strongly" supports the "indigenous people, whose land this is," and calls on the province to end trophy hunting "as soon as possible."
NDP environment critic Shane Simpson said he needs to see more scientific information on bear populations before taking a hard position on trophy hunting.
Green Party of B.C. Leader Jane Sterk said she is opposed to bear trophy hunting.
First Nations argue that trophy hunting of bears is not part of their traditional culture and threatens tourism-based bear viewing operations, which bring income to rural communities.
Arnie Bellis, vice-president of the Council of the Haida Nation, told reporters in announcing the campaign that the term trophy hunt is "too noble" for what actually takes place.
"These are very dark days for B.C. The citizens of B.C. are not condoning it."
A recent Ipsos Reid poll showed 78 per cent of B.C. residents oppose trophy hunting of bears.
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