I wish to express my dismay…

I wish to express my dismay in regards to the proposal of re-opening bear hunt in Ontario. Black bears provide a number of ecosystem services. By eating fruits they act as seed disperser for many plants. They keep insects populations in check by eating their larvae and, thus prevent outbreaks. And, by consuming vertebrate herbivores they prevent these species from overgrazing. Overall, the presence of a bear is a very good sign that an ecosystem is healthy, which, in turn, makes our lives healthy as we depend on the environment for our day to day resources and for our enjoyment. I am therefore troubled to hear the news of a move towards re-opening spring bear hunt in Ontario. As we are facing an age of extinction, we should focus on taking species off hunting lists and not putting them on. While black bears are not considered species at risk, much of their habitat, particularly in southern Ontario has been lost to agriculture and urbanization. Bears living in and around this area are barely scraping by. Hunting will only exert more pressure on these individuals and will create more “problem animals”, as they will be forced to seek shelter away from the protection of the forest and venture closer to habitations to get away from hunters. Hunting is not the most effective solution for human-bear conflicts. Proper waste management and disposal, together with public education are! The Government of Ontario should consider re-directing efforts towards solving these problems and not exacerbating them. In addition, I am not clear about how the Government of Ontario intends to assure the safety of female bears and their cubs, given that Conservation offices in the Province are currently understaffed. Overall, I judge this as a really poorly-thought idea and I wholeheartedly opposite.