Dear Bear Friends,
If you would like to send a note in support of rescuing newborn cubs please e-mail Minister Penner, Premier and your MLA
ENV.Minister@gov.bc.ca ; premier@gov.bc.ca ; ralph.sultan.mla@leg.bc.ca; katherine.whittred.mla@leg.bc.ca joan.mcintyre.mla@leg.bc.ca for more MLA’s and contacts go to: http://www.dir.gov.bc.ca
Thank you,
Barb Murray
Bears Matter!
Press Release June 12, 2007
Bear Matters BC
North Vancouver
Premier Campbell’s (April 2005) $400,000 Promise to Help Orphan Cubs Awaits Allocation while tiny bear cubs continue to be killed or left die in the woods!
Why?
It was wonderful news in April 2005 that Premier Campbell took a personal interest in bear rehabilitation during his election speech and promised $400,000 to help cubs. It was even better news when 4 grizzly cubs were officially rehabilitated and released with the government participation and support in May 2007 from Hillspring Wildlife Rehab Centre in Dawson Creek. Now the gov’t is considering doing more work in grizzly cub rehabilitation with a northern rehabilitation centre. This is all good news for bears…..or is it?
The Spring Bear Hunt began April 15 and will end June 15. This year very few bear cubs have come in to the four private, gov’t licensed rehab facilities. Over 1,300 grizzly limited entry hunting tags and over 7,000 black bear tags were sold for the Spring Bear Hunt this season but very few cubs have been brought into rehab? It is thought that up to 50% of hunted bears are females, many having new cubs, when they emerge from winter dens in March/April?
Recently it has come to my attention that the wildlife authorities have a protocol to not ‘interfere’ with orphan cubs, either grizzly or black, when found unless ‘unavoidable’. Newborn cubs are left to starve or be predicated upon at 2-4mos old when the mother has been shot accidentally, killed by a vehicle, as a nuisance bear or by another bear. These tiny cubs left on their own this time of year means almost certain death to the cub. If orphaned later in the summer some cubs ‘may’ survive on their own. This current protocol leaving newborn cubs bawling for their mothers and ultimately starving to death in woods is unnecessary, unethical and inhumane. We have 4 bear rehabilitation centres that are willing and able to take cubs year round and with more funding could expand as needed.
Premier Campbell and Minister Penner, the cubs need your support now! Stop the kill order on newborn cubs, especially with this massive Spring Bear Hunt still continuing in BC. ( Ontario cancelled the spring bear hunt in 1999 for humane reasons and they now focus on bear viewing in the Spring.)
11 Orphaned & Needy Cubs Killed Before Going to Shelter
1. Dec 06- 2 cubs in winter without mothers and extremely underweight. Kamloops
2. April 10 – Tyax Lodge (Lillooet) 2lb cub found and killed en route to Critter Care (stated too small?)
3. Early May- 2- 6lb cubs at mother’s side after she was hit by a semi trailer and had to be killed by RCMP. Manning Park
(contact Tony telxxxxxx in Victoria for eye-witness account and interview)
4. June 2/3 –Triplet cubs in killed in Skeena Region near Smithers Rehab Centre
5. June 2/3 – Triplet cubs killed after nuisance mother killed near Prince George
Below is my letter attached addressed to Minister Penner and cc Premier and all MLA’s. Four bear rehab centres listed. No response as yet.
Please contact me for any information regarding this unacceptable and deplorable situation that urgently needs addressing by gov’t authorities.
Contact:
Barbara Murray
Bear Matters BC
June 8,2007 (e-mail with no response to date)
The Honourable Barry Penner,
Minister of Environment,
Parliament Buildings
Victoria, B.C. V8V 1X4
Dear Minister Penner,
It is with great urgency and resolve that I write this letter to you.
Some months ago, it was brought to my attention that “orphan cubs of the year” were again being killed at the discretion of the MOE wildlife authorities. At first, I thought perhaps it was just the odd case in which there was no other choice possible. However, I now have accumulated reports that point to a minimum of 11 vulnerable, orphan cubs meeting government sanctioned death. They come from the regions including the communities of Smithers, Prince George, Lillooet, Manning Park and Kamloops.
All are sad cases but what happened in Manning Park has left the man who gathered up two small healthy cubs with the intention of driving them to a rehabilitation centre absolutely traumatized. The mother bear was killed by an eighteen wheeler. The man had the cubs in his truck, ready to go when the wildlife officer told him they were to be left in the forest to starve. When the man refused he was threatened with charges under the wildlife act. After some heated discussion, the wildlife officer changed his approach by promising to send them to rehabilitation himself. The next day, the man phoned to enquire about the cubs’ welfare and was told they had been shot. Why?
All of these cubs, some as small as 2 pounds, were candidates for rehabilitation. No shelters were contacted and none of the cubs were evaluated before being killed. Licensed, willing and able to provide these vulnerable animals with a second chance, British Columbia’s rehabilitation shelters do their work at no cost to the taxpayer. This situation, therefore, is cruel, unnecessary and unacceptable. (note: 2lb cub from Lillooet area was said to be too small but many rehabbers have worked with newborns very successfully)
December 15, 2004, Minister Barisoff, publicly announced that orphan cubs of the year in the Southern region would be given the same second chance as those in the Northern region of this province. As a result, Critter Care Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in Langley has successfully raised and released 15 bears without incident.
April, 2005 in an election speech, Premier Campbell publicly promised to help BC’s orphan cubs with a promise of $400,000 to be used for this purpose. Why then would cubs be killed now when public sentiment is trending so strongly towards conservation, when the Premier is giving speeches about the need to conserve habitat and the wildlife within and when you yourself speak of the need for everyone to be responsible for conservation?
Our beautiful ‘Super Natural’ BC, as we advertise it, is a beacon for the world of eco-tourism. In Europe especially, bears are loved and this policy not only hurts the bears in question but BC Tourism.
I am hopeful that this situation is not new policy and that you will address it quickly to ensure cubs found (and there will be many as a result of the spring bear hunt) will get the second chance they deserve. I also hope you will take a close look at the inhumane practice in that hunt. Mothers of any species should not be hunted down when they have young to care for. Surely we have evolved beyond this practice.
Proactive measures to address poaching, cancellation of the spring bear hunt and the reduction of nuisance bear populations through innovative methods already proven effective in other jurisdictions, would place British Columbia on the leading edge of conservation.
It is within your power to do the right thing, Minister Penner. Please stop the indiscriminate and unnecessary killing of orphan cubs. All they need is a little compassion and that second chance. I ask you to give it to them on behalf of all BC citizens and world tourists and show that our province cares about our wildlife.
Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to hearing from you on this topic.
Sincerely,
Barbara Murray
North Vancouver
Privately Funded Bear Rehabilitation Centres in BC: (all in need of funding for expansion)
Hillspring Wildlife Rehab. Centre: Dawson Creek(only N.Amer centre to release total 6 grizz cubs in ’96/May’07 +100blacks)
Northern Lights Rehabilitation Centre: Smithers (over 100 black bears in 15yrs)
Critter Care Wildlife Centre: Langley ( 3 yrs of rehab of black bears-15 plus)
North Island Wildlife Recovery Centre: Parksville (15 yrs of rehab black bears-20plus)