Grizzly bears in British Columbia are no safer from hunters inside provincial parks than along highways, according to a statistical analysis by the David Suzuki Foundation.
Using provincial government records, the environmental organization mapped out the locations where 11,000 grizzly bears have been killed in B.C. over the past 30 years.
"It paints a distressing picture," said Faisal Moola, the foundation's director of terrestrial conservation. "Our analysis shows evidence of massive hunting mortality along B.C.'s highways, particularly Highway 37 from Terrace to the Yukon border ... [and it shows]B.C.'s grizzlies are no more protected in our parks than on the side of the road."
Northern Rocky Mountains Park (98 bears killed), Spatsizi Plateau Wilderness Park (73) and Purcell Wilderness Conservancy Park (53) are the top three of some 60 B.C. parks where grizzly bears have been shot. Dr. Moola said hunting is not allowed in national parks but is legal in provincial parks.
"The [provincial]minister has the discretionary power to shut down hunting in a park, but that is not happening," he said. "What we have is a parks system that protects bear habitat, but which doesn't protect the bears themselves."
Dr. Moola said he is worried about the high number of bears shot along highways, because it illustrates how roads concentrate hunting.
"One of the things we've always feared is that when you put roads into an area, you provide access to hunters who would not otherwise have easy access to grizzly bears," he said.
Dr. Moola said the hunting data locate kills within a one-kilometre-square grid.
"But I can't tell you if a bear was shot 100 metres or 500 metres from a road," he said. "I can tell you it's strange to see lines of dots along highways. ... The aggregation of dots in association with roads gives me confidence in saying this is evidence roads provide access to [to bears]for hunters."
It is illegal in B.C. to have a loaded firearm in a vehicle. But a hunter could spot a bear near a road, then leave the vehicle to track and shoot the animal.
Dr. Moola said the large number of bears killed throughout the Rocky Mountain corridor, from the B.C.-Montana border in the south to the Yukon boundary in the north, is also a concern.
B.C. Environment Minister Barry Penner declined to be interviewed about the province's controversial bear hunt, which has been the focus this week of a newspaper advertising campaign launched by several Canadian and international environmental groups.
But Mr. Penner's office did e-mail a statement under the heading "Protecting B.C.'s Grizzly Bears." In point form, it states B.C. has Canada's "largest and healthiest" population of grizzly bears - with approximately 16,000 animals.
"The B.C. government is committed to protecting B.C.'s grizzly bear population by relying on peer-reviewed published science. There are many competing interests when it comes to managing grizzly bear populations, which range from guide outfitters, resident hunters, the ecotourism industry and others," it states.
"B.C.'s policy is to respect all interests while ensuring ... the number one priority is always the maintenance of a healthy bear population."
The government also stated that bear hunting contributes about $120-million a year to the provincial economy, and while the B.C. bear population is able to withstand a 9-per-cent hunting mortality annually, only about 2 per cent are actually shot.
Mark Hume