Saving animal lives and supporting a conservation-based economy
We are 85% of the way to our goal to purchase the commercial trophy hunting rights in the Southern tenure!
To support the transition in coastal communities from an economy centred around resource extraction to one increasingly based on conservation, we started acquiring commercial trophy hunting tenures in 2005. By supporting wildlife viewing instead of killing, we help create rewarding, and sustainable jobs in remote coastal communities where those opportunities are rare.
The five tenures we have purchased since then cover more than 38,000 km2, an area larger than Belgium, and have effectively ended commercial trophy hunting within those regions in perpetuity. Over 80 grizzly bears and over 900 black bears were able to live free from commercial trophy hunting in the first tenure we purchased alone!
We are in the process of accomplishing our sixth acquisition, the Southern Great Bear Rainforest tenure. At 18,239 km2, it comprises a quarter of the Great Bear Rainforest and contains significant populations of grizzlies, cougars, black bears, wolves, and Roosevelt elk.
The purchase of the Southern tenure will directly prevent the trophy hunting of at least 710 black bears.
Hundreds of wolves and cougars will also be spared a cruel death by those seeking trophies.
Its spectacular geography includes six major coastal inlets, ten major river systems with vital estuaries, and countless smaller named and unnamed watersheds that support salmon ecosystems.
The Southern Great Bear Rainforest
Originally centred in the northern portion of the Great Bear Rainforest, bear viewing operations are now growing exponentially in the areas of the Southern Great Bear Rainforest tenure. There are more than 19 ecotourism companies in the tenure that currently rely on wildlife viewing.
The Southern Great Bear Rainforest tenure is one of our biggest acquisitions to date and our largest financial goal thus far. We need to reach our goal by the end of 2023.
With your help we can raise the remaining 15%.
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.
