As a citizen of Ontario, I…

As a citizen of Ontario, I am writing to express my strong opposition to the proposal to reinstate the spring bear hunt in Ontario. There is no compelling justification or need for such a hunt, and it is likely to lead to the inadvertent killing of nursing females and, thereafter, to the deaths of orphaned cubs who cannot survive on their own.

Despite hunters' good intentions to follow regulations that prohibit killing females with cubs, it is well documented that it is extremely difficult, even for biologists, to identify nursing female black bears. How, then, can hunters and their guides be expected or relied upon to follow the regulations? I am not a hunter, but my father was, and I know that the last thing he ever would have wanted to do is to kill a mother bear with cubs. Most hunters would be appalled at the prospect of being the perpetrator of such a tragedy, and yet a spring bear hunt makes this tragedy almost inevitable. Please do not reinstate the spring bear hunt. It is in no one's interest except for hunting guides and outfitters who have already shown that they do not need a spring bear hunt to remain in business.