Save the Great Bears campaign update

The NDP announcement to end all hunting of grizzly bears in the Great Bear Rainforest (GBR) is a huge conservation success. All hunting of grizzlies will end in the GBR from this November onward. However, there is much more to do to Save the Great Bears.

As Raincoast already owns three hunting tenures in the GBR, we are engaging with the provincial government, alongside our Coastal First Nations partners, to ensure that this ban is effective. This means discussions on monitoring and enforcement, as well as the necessity of protecting grizzlies that spend much of their time within the areas covered by the ban, but occasionally cross boundaries into areas where they are not protected.

What we do know is that the ban does not stop the ongoing killing of wolves, cougars and hundreds of black bears that remain at risk from trophy hunters in the GBR. Many of these black bears carry the rare Spirit bear gene. For these reasons, we continue to negotiate with existing owners to acquire all commercial hunting rights in the GBR. We need to ensure that grizzly bears, as well as these other large carnivores, are fully and permanently protected and are not at risk from any future change of government (we’ve seen this once before) or the acquisition of these hunting rights by unscrupulous interests. Taking trophy hunters off the GBR landscape remains one of our core objectives and we’ll need your continued support to make that possible.

While the Save the Great Bears campaign is focused on the Great Bear Rainforest, we also remain in opposition to the notion of the proposed “food hunt” for grizzly bears in the rest of the province. Grizzlies are hunted for trophies and attempting to disguise the killing of these iconic animals as a food hunt doesn’t change that fact.

Conservation solutions are rarely black and white. Rest assured we’re right there working to clarify and solidify these gains for the benefit of BC’s wildlife.

Thank you for getting us this far.

You can help

Raincoast’s in-house scientists, collaborating graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and professors make us unique among conservation groups. We work with First Nations, academic institutions, government, and other NGOs to build support and inform decisions that protect aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and the wildlife that depend on them. We conduct ethically applied, process-oriented, and hypothesis-driven research that has immediate and relevant utility for conservation deliberations and the collective body of scientific knowledge.

We investigate to understand coastal species and processes. We inform by bringing science to decision-makers and communities. We inspire action to protect wildlife and wildlife habitats.