For Immediate Release April 19, 2004

Conservation groups win Grizzly court battle

BC Court rules Grizzly Bear hunting data must be released to public

VANCOUVER – Conservation groups hailed Friday’s BC Court of Appeal decision requiring the BC Government to release critical data regarding Grizzly Bears killed each year by BC guide outfitters. Sierra Legal Defence Fund lawyers argued the case in January on behalf of the Raincoast Conservation Society, which has been seeking the data since 2000. Raincoast needs the data to conduct a scientific study of the health of BC’s grizzly bear population.

“We argued that this information must be made public in order to ensure the conservation of BC’s grizzly populations, and now both the BC Information and Privacy Commissioner and the Court of Appeal have agreed with us,” said Sierra Legal lawyer Tim Howard. “Now the public can evaluate for itself the sustainability of BC’s grizzly bear hunt.”

The groups were defending the Commissioner’s 2002 decision to release locations of grizzly bear hunting kills. Raincoast first requested the information in 2000, and both the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection and the BC Guide Outfitters Association have been fighting to keep the data secret ever since.

“The BC Government’s baseless argument that releasing this information creates a risk to grizzly bear conservation has once again been rejected," said Chris Genovali, Executive Director of Raincoast Conservation Society. "The clear winners will be grizzly bear conservation and the public's right to know."

In a related development, the European Union (EU) announced earlier this year that it has suspended all imports of grizzly bear hunting trophies from BC. This was yet another indication of the province’s failure to adequately manage grizzly bears. The unanimous decision of all 15 EU member states was based on the failure of the BC government to implement important measures to protect grizzly bear populations despite several promises to do so. Clearly, greater public scrutiny of the province’s grizzly bear management is needed; release of the kill data will help accomplish that.

For further information, please contact:

Tim Howard, Sierra Legal Defence Fund, phone: (604) 685-5618 ext. 225

Chris Genovali , Raincoast Conservation Society: (250)655-1229

The Raincoast Conservation Society (www.raincoast.org) is a non-profit research and public education organization. Sierra Legal Defence Fund (www.sierralegal.org) is a national non-profit organization dedicated to environmental justice.