As spring bear hunt begins, environmentalists try to shut it down

For the first time in 17 years, the spring bear hunt is now open all acrossOntario, including the northern region. But as the hunt returns, environmental lobbyists are ramping up in opposition.

The return of the spring bear hunt is political saidAnnaMariaValastro,alead campaigner with Peaceful Parks.

"It's not about keeping people safe."

She wrote an editorial in the Toronto Star last week,callingfor the spring bear huntto once again be deemed illegal. She added she feelsthe hunt is unethical and is more about making money for outfitters than keeping the publicsafe.

"We've never been able to win anything easily ... So,we have no illusions.But that's not what's motivating us, we want is to have a public dialogue"said Valastro, whoexpects this to be a long fight.

North vs.south: political divide

Valastro saidit's unfortunate the bear hunt has become caught up in the political divide between north and south Ontario.

"These are large issues, intrinsic universal issues and no one person has domain over these issues more than another person," saidValastro.

She told CBC Newsshe tried to get data from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestryabout thereasonbehind the return of the hunt and the science behind it.

She said she tried through aFreedom of Information request to get a reportfrom the last twoyears of the MNRF pilot project, but said shereceived nothing.

Much of the lobbying in the 1990s to get the government to scrap thehunt came from theSchad Foundation.

"I don't believe it was a north-south issue, it wasn't a conservation issue, it was an issue of ethics," founderPeter Kendall said, adding he feltthe heart of the matter got lost inthe political storm.

Reviewing the data

When CBC Sudbury requested a response from the MNRF, their communications representative, JolantaKowalski,emailed a statement.

"We continue toreview the preliminary data we have. One of the reasons we decided to expand the pilot for five more years was to gather more data about the spring hunt.

"While science shows one of the biggest influence on the number of human-bear encounters is the availability of natural food sources, we also understand that bear-related public concerns are very real for people living in northern and central Ontario. We've extended the spring bear hunt pilot because we are committed to assisting those communities and to support economic growth and tourism in northern and central Ontario."

This is the first year the bear hunt is open all across the province and not just in select areas, like it was over the last two trial years.

American and European hunters are also able to take part, for the first timesince the hunt was cancelled in 1999.

The MNRF said thespring bear hunt is still officially a pilot project and will be re-evaluated by the province in five years.