{"id":300904,"date":"2025-11-23T03:13:04","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T03:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/300904\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T03:13:04","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T03:13:04","slug":"spike-in-grizzly-conflicts-prompts-b-c-wildlife-federation-to-question-hunt-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/300904\/","title":{"rendered":"Spike in grizzly conflicts prompts B.C. Wildlife Federation to question hunt ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

The B.C. Wildlife Federation says the province\u2019s 2017 ban on grizzly bear hunting was \u201ca shortsighted move,\u201d made without scientific justification, renewing debate over wildlife management.<\/p>\n

A surge in grizzly bear encounters, including this week\u2019s attack on a group of Bella Coola schoolchildren and teachers<\/a>, is renewing warnings that human-wildlife conflict in B.C. is hitting dangerous new territory.<\/p>\n

Watch below:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe data shows that before the hunt was stopped, there were typically around 300 to 500\u00a0calls per year,\u201d Jesse Zeman, executive director of the BCWF told CHEK News.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Ban on grizzly bear trophy hunt in B.C. gets mixed reaction<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now, from what I understand around the data is\u00a0we\u2019re up around a 1,000 calls per year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zeman explained in some municipalities, education is needed for people to manage their garbage and to manage attractants, and municipal governments have to enforce their bylaws with fines.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of times it\u2019ll be one person in a neighbourhood who flaunts the rules, who creates problems for everybody else \u2026 but we think that this behaviour \u2013 that\u2019s a learned behaviour that gets passed on. Those bears that are not afraid of people, from our perspective, a lot of times would have been harvested by hunters because they are more visible and they\u2019re not as afraid of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the BCWF, grizzlies are the animal most likely to attack humans in B.C., which is home to 15,000 of Canada\u2019s 26,000 grizzly bears.<\/p>\n

Zeman explained when hunting pressure is removed, the number of problem grizzlies increases.\u00a0A lack of hunting pressure was cited by the Japanese Environment Ministry when the army was called in to protect residents of\u00a0Akita Prefecture after 12 people were killed in bear attacks in just seven months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The BCWF added Alberta now says that everything is on the table when it comes to reducing human-grizzly conflict, including lifting its own ban on grizzly hunting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very polarizing. I think what what everyone\u00a0wants is we want to make sure that there\u2019s a future for grizzly bears and grizzly bear conservation in British Columbia. And at the same time, we want people to be able to feel\u00a0comfortable and safe going outside, going hiking, camping, that sort of thing. We want people to\u00a0value wildlife,\u201d added Zeman. <\/p>\n

The executive director Grizzly Bear Foundation, a charity dedicated to the welfare of grizzly bears, is disappointed by the BCWF\u2019s timing on bringing this up. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the time for that conversation and it\u2019s incendiary the way they\u2019re approaching it and insensitive,\u201d Nicholas Scapillati said. <\/p>\n

Scapillati says grizzly bear attacks are very rare, something the BCWF agreed with. <\/p>\n

He says human-bear conflict calls can fluctuate, adding there can be a variety of reasons why the B.C. Conservation Officer Service (BCCOS) would be seeing an increase in encounter calls. <\/p>\n

\u201cMore people are exploring nature, we\u2019re developing more of nature so we are going to have more encounters. There\u2019s also the climate crisis, you know we really have to take into account to we are seeing decreased food sources, not only salmon but berries in the alpine and lower areas,\u201d Scapillati said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are also seeing conservation officers introduced the RAPP line<\/a> so we\u2019re seeing more data because there\u2019s an opportunity for people to report more. So you really need to examine all of those factors when you look at are they getting more calls.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added more calls to BCCOS doesn\u2019t necessarily mean more conflicts between humans and bears. <\/p>\n

Scapillati says the call could be someone reporting a bear eating from a bird feeder. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a spectrum right, and so that\u2019s a big part of coexistence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have to look at that and realize what we are talking about when we talk about conflicts on the rise and how different that is from an attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a press conference on Friday, the province said it is not looking at lifting the ban on grizzly bear hunts at this time. <\/p>\n

On social media, the BCCOS says additional conservation officers arrived in Bella Coola Saturday to investigate the grizzly bear attack. <\/p>\n

\u201cBased on investigative efforts to date, including witness accounts, two additional grizzly bears were seen in the area during the attack,\u201d the post reads. <\/p>\n

\u201cTrapping efforts to capture and assess all three bears are ongoing. The investigation includes the collection of any forensic evidence that can be used to identify bears involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BCCOS is continuing to direct residents to avoid the 4 Mile area, stay indoors and not search for the bears themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can appreciate people want to be involved but this is a fluid and dangerous situation,\u201d said Insp. Kevin Van Damme in a statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor the safety of residents and our officers, please avoid the area and allow them space to do their work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BCCOS says it continues to remain in close contact with the Nuxalk Nation, with its Restorative Justice and First Nations Relations Inspector travelling to the community to provide additional support as needed.<\/p>\n

Anyone with information, or to report bear sightings in Bella Coola, should contact the Report All Poachers and Polluters (RAPP) line at 1-877-952-7277.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The B.C. Wildlife Federation says the province\u2019s 2017 ban on grizzly bear hunting was \u201ca shortsighted move,\u201d made…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,1062,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-300904","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-video","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}