A grizzly business
by Allan Thornton

Grizzlies in British Columbia (BC), Canada are being pushed towards extinction as a direct result of trophy hunting and the destruction of their habitat. Despite an urgent appeal from environmental organizations worldwide, the government of BC has refused to suspend the "sport" kill of grizzly bears.

"Unless steps are taken now to conserve grizzly bear populations in British Columbia, this animal could disappear from our landscape forever," said the BC government in the introduction to its "Grizzly Bear Conservation Strategy." It was published in June 1995, yet, more than three years later, its most important measures are still a long way from implementation. Because of this, grizzly bears face a terribly uncertain future.

The failure to implement the Grizzly Bear Conservation Strategy follows over two decades of failure by the BC government to act to ensure the survival of grizzly bears. As far back as the 1970s, conservation biologists were warning that the BC grizzly bear population was being over-hunted. In 1979, the BC government promised to reduce the hunting quota to 200 grizzlies a year. This promise was never kept.

By 1990, two independent reports had revealed that kills were higher than the set quotas in large parts of the province. The "Provincial Grizzly Bear Harvest Review," carried out by the BC government's Wildlife Branch, confirmed that between 1984 and 1988, total kills exceeded the annual allowable harvest in 52 out of 118 management units. A subsequent review by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) confirmed these findings. Not only had the government failed to reduce the hunt to 200 as promised in 1979, but the higher quotas were being exceeded in almost half of the hunting concessions.

By this time the Wildlife Branch was coming under sustained pressure from independent scientists, First Nation peoples, and environmentalists to reduce the grizzly hunt. To fend off criticisms the government adopted a set of new hunting regulations apparently intended to reduce the maximum level of all kills permissible (including hunting, poaching, conflict, and accidents) from 5 to 4 percent of the population. This should have reduced the number of grizzlies hunted. Instead the Wildlife Branch revised its population estimates for the province's grizzlies. This had the effect of almost doubling the grizzly population overnight, on paper, to between 10,000 and 13,000 grizzlies.

The methodology used by the government was based on a habitat assessment approach, which evaluated the number of bears each habitat could potentially support. To estimate how many bears there actually were, local government biologists were left to make what even the Ministry acknowledged were "best guesses," and adjust the estimates accordingly. The process was not peer reviewed, or backed up by any meaningful field checks of actual populations. The BC government admitted that the methodology was not designed to provide a basis to set hunting quotas, but had been used for this purpose because the government lacked inventory data.

By doubling the population estimate to 13,000, the BC government has been able to fulfill what was promised in the new hunting regulations, a hunting quota of 4 percent of the estimated population. Independent scientists have estimated the grizzly population at 4,000 to 7,000. If the population is as low as 4,000, the 1996 hunt of 363 bears would have wiped out more than 9 percent of the total in just one year. And this is only half the story. Long-term studies of radio-collared bears indicate that unreported kills from poaching and wounding losses may match the reported mortality. As logging, mining, roads, and railways open access to bear habitat, these "unplanned" kills are likely to increase.

The importance
The BC grizzly bear population is at the heart of the remaining range of grizzlies in North America. North America's grizzly population is thought to have numbered around 100,000 animals at its peak. Its range used to extend from Alaska south through Canada and the western United States as far as Mexico, and from the Pacific coast across the prairies as far east as Hudson Bay. Now the species has been extirpated in large tracts of its former range and only isolated populations remain. In the US south of Canada, the grizzly is restricted to just 1 percent of its former range, and in Canada almost a quarter of the species' original range has been lost. All of the grizzly populations south of BC are threatened. The continued movement of bears across the US-Canada border is vital for the medium- to long-term viability of these populations.

Susceptibility to extinction
Grizzlies have the lowest reproductive rate of all North American land mammals. High cub mortality with long periods between each litter means that an average female grizzly will produce only about eight cubs in a lifetime. Low reproductive potential, coupled with typically small population densities, makes grizzlies particularly susceptible to depletion and slow to recover. Their low reproductivity also means that it takes a long time before depletion becomes apparent, with the risk that by the time a population decline has been noticed, it is too late for recovery. This has been acknowledged by the BC government's Conservation Strategy document: "Because of their productivity grizzly populations respond slowly to impacts that produce a change in status. We will not know how hunting or losses in habitat, or new access to a wilderness area for example, will affect the production and survival of young bears until additional litters are recruited into the population - a period of about six years. Given our present state of knowledge, responsible management demands that we are conservative in setting allocations for hunting grizzly bear."

Other threats
Bear parts are sought internationally for their use in traditional Chinese medicine and as a delicacy, with gall bladders, paws, and genitalia especially targeted. Trafficking in bear parts has taken place in BC for at least the last 25 years, with undercover investigations indicating the existence of extensive and highly organized networks of hunters, middlemen, dealers and buyers. Although poaching levels are believed to have dropped in recent years, the trade persists. In March, 1997, 21 bear galls with a street value of $30,000 were seized at Vancouver International Airport.

In addition to hunting, poaching and conflict killings, the province's remaining grizzlies are being adversely affected by extensive habitat and resource degradation. Forestry, agriculture, and other industries have resulted in the loss and fragmentation of prime grizzly habitat. Fragmentation of habitat results in population insularization, rendering grizzlies more vulnerable to random genetic changes, inbreeding depression, and local catastrophic events. Loss of genetic diversity reduces the capacity of the species to adapt to changing environmental conditions.

The need to establish a network of protected areas based on the biological conservation needs of grizzly bears has been recognized by the BC government, but again specific promises have not been fulfilled. In 1992, the government introduced the Protected Areas Strategy (PAS), which promised to set aside at least 12 percent of the province as Protected Areas. It recognized the importance of setting aside large wilderness areas, linking important grizzly habitats. Since then, the words "at least" have been conveniently dropped and the 12 percent target is the maximum.

Perhaps more importantly, the government has moved toward the goal of protecting 12 percent of the entire land base rather than a proportion of each forest or habitat type. Consequently, areas set aside are those unlikely to be threatened by economic activities such as forestry. As of 1996, 61.2 percent of the total new protected areas designated since the inception of the PAS were classified as either "alpine" or "sub-alpine" in character, reflecting a clear bias in favor of rock and ice. Most of the parks are very small, and will make little difference to the conservation of large mammals such as grizzly bears that can have territories of around 350 square miles (900 square kilometers).

With so many threats to the the grizzly, nothing short of a complete moratorium on the hunting of grizzlies will be enough. It is possible the BC government might merely announce a reduction of the quota, or try and re-jig the population figures one more time. The BC government must act immediately. As The Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper, pointed out in a recent editorial: "... given the scientific uncertainties about how many there are, the knowledge that the population is not large and the fact that the hunt serves no purpose except giving hunters pleasure, why should it continue?"

What You Can Do: Write to Premier Glen Clark of British Columbia, [Premier@gov.bc.ca, or Office of the Premier, West Annex, Parliament Bldgs., Victoria, BC, V8W9E1] asking him to urgently introduce a moratorium on grizzly bear hunting in the province.