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Spring bear hunt opponents protest as consultations end

THUNDER BAY -- A small group of protesters converged on Minister of Natural Resources Bill Mauro’s office on Monday, the last day of public consultations regarding the provincial plan to reinstate the spring bear hunt.
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Four protesters demonstrated outside of Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Bill Mauro's office on Monday as consultations came to an end on the spring bear hunt. (Jon Thompson, tbnewswatch.com)

THUNDER BAY -- A small group of protesters converged on Minister of Natural Resources Bill Mauro’s office on Monday, the last day of public consultations regarding the provincial plan to reinstate the spring bear hunt.

The 2016 spring hunt would be the first since 1999 when the province cancelled it over fears killing sows were orphaning cubs. A combination of the tourism economic potential and the rise in reports of nuisance bears over recent years, however, have piqued the province’s interest in reinstating the hunt.

Animal activist Judy Mayor held a sign reading “Cecil the Bear,” in reference to the Internet outrage over an American trophy-hunting dentist who killed a lion with the same name.

“We live with these creatures and we should try to get along instead of just destroying them and aren’t we as bad as Africa?” Major asked.

“Cecil the lion was killed trophy hunting. What’s different about this? The U.S. hunters come in. They want to kill a bear for a trophy. It’s unethical and it’s barbaric as far as I’m concerned.”

No Spring Bear Hunt Committee member Paul Filteau doesn’t believe the MNR’s 2011 assertion there are 105,000 bears in the province. In his experience walking the land around Thunder Bay, he has seen less evidence of bears this year than ever before.

Moreover, he resents what he feels is the ministry’s characterization of bears as a threat. Alongside clear cutting and aerial spraying that chokes out blueberries, he argued, the public’s perception of bears has shifted with high profile police bear shootings.

All this, Filteau expressed, to establish a commercial practise out of the lowest order of hunting.   

“What we’re concerned with is baiting. Baiting really isn’t hunting. It’s more like drive-by shooting,” he said.

“People go out by boat or by four-wheel vehicle or by truck, go to where the bait is and they shoot the bear. There’s no technique, there’s no flushing, there’s no stalking. There’s very little hunting involved.  It’s kind of a lazy man’s activity.”

Mauro was in Queen’s Park on Monday so he was unable to speak to the protesters but he said the government expected resistance when it introduced the spring bear hunt proposal.

“We fully understood when we decided to move forward with this proposal that there are people who are not supportive of it. That was obvious to us. That was the reason, back in ’99, that the decision was made then,” Mauro said. 

“We respect there are other voices that want to be heard on this issue.”





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