Spirit Bear is next “trophy” sought in British Columbia

As soon as the Olympics are over and the crowds that have come from all over the world for the array of winter sports have dispersed, a new visitor will come for a different “sport” – the bear hunter seeking to kill bears for trophies in British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest.  How can British Columbia’s government put itself forward as a leader – as host of the Olympics – in Canada one week and the next week allow the backwards and heart wrenching killing of bears as they stumble out of their dens after a long winter’s hibernation? 

The government must stop the hunt and stop it now.  This is the message that 20 million people from around the world will send to the British Columbia government tomorrow in a full page ad that will run in the B.C. Vancouver Sun (see below).  Ian McAllister, one of the most prominent bear advocates in North America and Executive Director of Pacific Wild, shares the sentiment behind the ad in his guest blog on NRDC's Greenlight page today.

NRDC has worked closely with first nations, environmentalists, industry and government to protect the temperate rainforest of British Columbia for nearly two decades.  We were integrally involved in the creation of millions of acres of protected forests in Vancouver Island’s Clayoquot Sound and on B.C.’s western coast, the Great Bear Rainforest.  NRDC’s very logo is of the spirit bear, one of the most beautiful bears on the planet that appears as a white, cinnamon colored, or black bear. Black bears can have white cubs and vice-versa. The forests have the richest variety of bears on the planet. The bear is the icon of the forest, a point not lost on B.C. when it paraded a giant spirit bear in the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.

The rapid logging and hunting on the coast spurred a massive campaign that started with the indigenous peoples that had lived there for millennia and spread to millions of people around the world, including NRDC’s 1.2 members and activists. Nearly 500 major corporations also joined the call to protect these forests. Since the British Columbia government moved to protect the Great Bear Rainforest in 2001, ending the trophy hunt has been one of the most deadly unfulfilled promises – over 2,000 bears have been killed. It is time to fulfill this promise and not let another year go by in which black bears, some carrying the recessive gene of the spirit bear, and grizzlies can be senselessly killed.

Anyone who knows these forests can’t help but be awed by them. They are replete with giant cedars and firs, stretching up into mist of the rainforest and over pristine salmon streams. The bear has a close relationship with these trees and salmon. It carries the salmon from the stream to eat the fish in the trees. The carcass of the fish are often seen strewn across branches, soon to fertilize the tree and the forest soils. The trees then provide dens for the bears and protection from the sun for the streams, making it possible for the salmon to survive.  The bear, salmon and trees are intricately interwoven with one another in a perfect cycle of life.

The people who know this best are the first nations. They have revered the bear – many have bear clans.  One of the first nation leaders we have worked closely with on the coast, Art Sterritt, had this to say of the hunt – “"This is not a sport, it is a senseless slaughter, the trophy hunt goes against every moral teaching that we carry and is disrespectful to our culture and values."

The first nations in the Great Bear Rainforest say that the white bear was put there – in their rainforest home – to remind them that their home was once all ice and snow.  The bear is there to remind them to protect the magnificent forest that arose when the glaciers retreated. Now it’s the bear that needs our protection.  The clock is ticking.

[Click the image below to see the full ad]

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