VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail
Published Sunday, Aug. 02, 2015 7:40PM EDT
Last updated Sunday, Aug. 02, 2015 11:20PM EDT
Drawn by the scent of death, the apex predators came to the hunters. That’s what made the killing of Cecil the lion in Africa, and the shooting of an unnamed grizzly bear in British Columbia, both illegal activities.
Grizzly bear viewing is a growing tourism business that brings in millions of dollars to the B.C. economy. PHOTO: Jonathan Hayward/CP
While the world has been gripped by the sad fate of Cecil the Lion, shot earlier this week by an American trophy hunter on the plains of Africa and left to die, British Columbia has many of its very own Cecils quietly bringing millions of dollars into the provincial economy.
Over the last two decades, grizzly bear viewing in B.C. has grown from a tiny niche business to one estimated be worth $30 million in direct revenue to the economy in 2012, according to the Centre for Responsible Travel’s study conducted with Stanford University.
This is more than 10 times as much as the industry of killing bears for sport.
And yet, this industry is under pressure from trophy hunting.
Read More »B.C. Has its Own Version of Cecil the Lion by Julius Strauss and Kevin Smith
Relaxing grizzly bear. Photo by Andrew S. Wright. FOI investigation reveals that senior B.C. bureaucrats seized on the province’s rising grizzly bear numbers —disputed by researchers—to “mitigate” the impacts of mining Mychaylo Prystupa Mar 13th, 2015 Senior B.C. wildlife bureaucrats seized upon the… Read More »Grizzly bears seen as gold for mining, B.C. gov’t emails reveal Vancouver Observer
“Sometimes it gets nasty,” said Jason Moody, a patroller from Nuxalk Nation in Bella Coola.http://www.vancouverobserver.com/news/coastal-guardian-watchmen-confront-armed-trophy-hunters-save-grizzlies Mychaylo Prystupa Feb 24th, 2015 Coastal Guardian Watchmen on the lookout for trophy hunters on the Great Bear Rainforest coast in 2010. Photo by Doug Neasloss… Read More »Coastal Guardian Watchmen confront armed trophy hunters to save grizzlies
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/news/ndp-and-liberals-target-grizzly-trophy-hunt-conservationist-says by Mychaylo Prystupa A fierce political squabble this week in the British Columbia legislature over who gets to shoot bears — locals or foreigners — has entirely missed the target about the need to protect at-risk grizzlies, says… Read More »NDP and Liberals off-target on grizzly trophy hunt, conservationist says
