Bear hunt ban mulled for central coast
Move in proposed conservancy would protect gene pool for Kermode or white bear

Louise Dickson
Times Colonist

February 1, 2005

The B.C. government is considering a ban on the hunting of black bears in its proposed Kermode bear -- or spirit bear -- conservancy to protect the white bear gene pool.

"Given that white bears are black bears with recessive genes, I expect there would likely be consideration extended to them," George Abbott, sustainable resource minister, said last week.

Abbott was responding to environmentalists' charges that the Liberal government is guilty of "wildlife racism."

"You're safe if you're white and you're rare and a potential icon for the Olympics," said Chris Darimont, a biologist with Raincoast Conservation Society and UVic PhD candidate. "But if you're a common black sibling or a mother or father to a white bear, you're not as valuable."

Darimont is concerned that killing black bears on the central coast could have the effect of killing Kermode or white bears, because some black bears carry white genes.

"The government wants to co-opt the image of the spirit bear for use in attracting people to B.C. and business to B.C. and money to B.C.," said Darimont. "But they're not protecting enough habitat of the Kermode bear. And at the same time, they're permitting the deliberate killing of black bears for sport and profit."

In July 2004, Premier Gordon Campbell announced an initiative to create a conservancy for B.C.'s world-famous Kermode bear on the central coast.

The conservancy will be set up in the northern section of the central coast, around Princess Royal Island, home to the Kitasoo First Nation for thousands of years. But the boundaries and size have not been finalized with government and First Nations negotiating terms for land use in a 46,000-square kilometre area of the central coast. About 21 per cent of that area will be set aside for parks and the conservancy.

It is illegal to hunt Kermode bears anywhere in B.C., but hunting of black bears and other animals is permitted in the area of the proposed conservancy, said Max Cleeveley, communications director for the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection. The area is a mix of Crown land, provincial parkland, private land and some protected areas.

In December, Darimont and other environmentalists including David Suzuki, sent an e-mail to Campbell voicing opposition to black bear hunting in the area and asking for explicit policy to prevent it.

They argued that black bears play an important role as gardeners of B.C.'s coastal forests by capturing spawning salmon from the streams, consuming a portion of the carcass and leaving the remainder for other scavengers, such as birds, small mammals, insects, fungus and bacteria.

"These salmon-derived nutrients eventually cycle through aquatic communities, fueling future generations of juvenile salmon and ultimately bears."

In a letter dated Dec. 10, Campbell replied that black bear harvests are well within safe limits for the species.

"The total kill is so low that our scientists do not believe that the harvesting of some (black bears carrying the white gene) in the proposed protected areas puts the white gene at risk in any way. The numbers are so small that there is no specific conservation risk," wrote Campbell.

The black bear population in B.C. is considered to be "very strong," estimated at between 120,000 and 160,000.

The science behind the recessive gene that creates Kermode bears is complicated, said Darimont. Sometimes killing a black bear will increase the frequency of white genes, while at other times it will decrease the frequency.

"But when there's uncertainty, we should adopt precautionary principles," added Darimont. "And on a fall hunt, if a hunter kills a black female, he can't tell if she has two white cubs in her belly. So under certain scenarios, they are decreasing the population of the Kermode bear."

He also thinks hunting in the conservancy would be viewed as unacceptable by the electorate. Sanctuaries are supposed to be a refuge, argued Darimont.

Abbott called banning hunting in the proposed conservancy "a possibility."

"But I think it's important we allow the discussions with First Nations to come to fruition before I start and David Suzuki starts and anyone else tries to impose their vision on the Kitasoo," said Abbott.

On Monday, Kitasoo chief negotiator Percy Starr said First Nations believe people shouldn't kill animals for the sake of killing. "I support the idea of no hunting, But whether all the people here will go that way, it's not for me to say."

The Raincoast Conservation Society is planning to use the "Spirit Bears in the City" campaign to focus attention on its concerns. Some 200, two-metre tall fibreglass cast statues of the Kermode bear will be transformed into works of art by B.C. artists. About 150 bears will be located in Vancouver and Victoria. The remaining 50 will head north to Kermode bear territory.

The fundraising campaign -- a sequel to the "Orcas in the City" series -- was unveiled two week ago at the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre. The campaign will benefit the B.C. Lions Society and the Canucks for Kids Fund.

Stephen Miller, president of the B.C. Lions Society, said the Spirit Bear in the City campaign is not an environmental initiative.

"It's a public art initiative to showcase B.C. artists ... for good causes," said Miller