Bear-death video alarms guide outfitters group

April 15, 2008

Hunters seen laughing at animal in distress

Judith LavoieTimes Colonist

Sunday, April 13, 2008

The

sight of hunters laughing as a black bear they have shot struggles to

drag itself across a road is not going down well with the Guide

Outfitters Association of B.C.The disturbing video, taken four

years ago on the Queen Charlotte Islands, is being used by groups who

want an end to black bear trophy hunting."Hunters must always strive for clean and humane harvests of any animal," said GOABC spokeswoman Susan Eastham."When

taking an animal's life, ethical hunters do so respectfully and GOABC

is very disappointed with the lack of respect shown for the animal by

some of the individuals in this video. This video should not be used as

an example of typical hunter conduct."However, the video was

provided to media outlets by a disgruntled former employee to damage

the reputation of the guide outfitter, Eastham noted.The guide

outfitter in the Queen Charlottes is Prophet Muskwa, run by Kevin

Olmstead of Fort St. John. The video is a bad example of a hunt and was

shot by a former cook, Olmstead said.Bear hunting is big business in B.C., with hunters paying up to $12,000 for the privilege of shooting a bear.The

spring hunting season started April 1, and on Vancouver Island

companies are advertising some of the best trophy bears in North

America."Like most hunters I wanted the biggest, baddest bear I

could find," says a testimonial on the North Island Guide Outfitters

site.North Island advertises "Island bears" known for their "tremendous body size."Environment Ministry spokeswoman Kate Thompson said it is a valuable industry for the province."We have a large number of hunters in B.C. because we have a large number of bears," she said.Black

bear kill numbers are not available for the last two years, but in 2005

residents killed 2,185 bears and non-residents 1,437.That year, 14,362 B.C. residents bought bear-hunting licences and 3,367 non-residents bought licences.The high was in 2000 when there were 2,826 resident kills and 1,509 kills by non residents.jlavoie