Hunting of Black Bears for…

Hunting of Black Bears for sport is absolutely unnecessary, and there will always be those who will profit off of their deaths (gallbladders etc for traditional Chinese medicine proven to have no medicinal benefits). Bears are very misunderstood. I live in Whistler BC and tourism has greatly affected the bear population here. Again, where there is money to be made some will take advantage. Deaths of female bears by hunters essentially guarantee cub deaths and limit future generations the female bear woild have nurtured. I do understand that there are times when a bear does need to be killed for human safety though that is very, very rare and usually human caused especially with black bears, such as improper garbage disposal and negative encounters which escalate as the bear will come to expect that as a food source.

I've gotten involved with a local Wildlife group to help educate visitors to the area so that they do not cause unnecessary deaths of these beautiful misunderstood animals. They peacefully live among us, sometimes without humans knowing just how close by they are. They adapt, and do all they can to avoid conflict. Once again though I will say there are exceptions though in my experience, there are very few.

I'm not against anyone truly harvesting an animal for food which they need for their family IF they do so humanely and are certain they are not taking a female away from new cubs coming from their first den.

Please do NOT allow more hunting. See above in your article, human caused bear decline (especially female bears) was noted in the one area. How and why do you expect that NOT to happen in the area being discussed here? It is illogical to expect that additional hunting seasons will not cause the exact same NEGATIVE issue there.