I have always said that a politician would sell his mother’s soul to the devil if it meant a vote. In Canada, the provincial government canceled the spring bear hunt because they said too many bear cubs were being orphaned. According to an editorial in the Timmins Press, premier Mike Harris did away with the hunt because of pressure being put on him by animal rights groups.
Harris, at the time, was under fire from the International Fund for Animal Welfare to cancel the hunt. The animal-rights activists threatened to stage a media blitz, showing orphaned cubs on billboards and on television ads, just prior to a provincial election.
The IFAW planned to target the anti-bear hunt campaign heavily in eight key ridings in southern Ontario the Tories feared could swing Liberal.
This is nothing knew really, as here in the U.S. we have always debated whether utilizing a bear hunt in the spring was necessary for bear management. As bears go, the early spring will bring out the male bears first. Females remain hibernated for longer periods of time to care for her cubs. During spring hunts for bears, it is generally illegal to shoot a female bear that is with cubs. The idea of course is to prevent leaving cubs orphaned.
The reasoning behind preventing the orphaning of cub bears is based on humane treatment. But what happened in Ontario leaves one asking if canceling the spring bear hunt was for humane reasons or political.
Late last week, Bill Barber, a fall bear-hunting guide in the Kirkland Lake area made a shocking discovery. Located on Crown land is a dump site for the disposing of dead bears. When nuisance bears are put down by police in the Kirkland Lake area, the carcasses are dumped at the site by the Ministry of Natural Resources. Barber estimated there were at least 10 bears, including cubs, left to rot at the site.
We have to ask which is more humane? Is having a spring bear hunt feasible when only a fraction of bears are mistakenly orphaned or do we eliminate the spring bear hunt making for too many bears that turn to nuisance bears, including cubs, that end up being slaughtered by the police and dumped at a site and left to rot?
Game animal management has to be done scientifically and decisions should be made based on the best available science. When politicians begin messing with the welfare of our wildlife for the purpose of winning votes, animals like the bear suffer.
Tom Remington
