Please consider the…

Please consider the following important points:

The current season of May 1 to June 15 should be changed to June 1 to June 30 to protect females with cubs as well as the cubs themselves;

Baiting should not take place; if it will, baiting must end when the season concludes and not begin again until shortly before the fall season and more stringent limits must be put in place to protect recreationalists, drivers, property owners, pets and others from bait piles that attract wildlife. All bait sites should be registered to ensure compliance;

The government must make an acknowledgement that a spring bear hunt is not about community safety as originally stated in 2014 in the face of their own evidence showing it does not impact human conflict with bears; education and enforcement of human behaviour, attractants and feeding will have the greatest impact on mitigating and preventing conflict;

A report should be created and released on the impact of a spring bear hunt on other recreationalists’ safety, freedom to explore and expectations, as bear hunters in the spring make up a very small percentage of people enjoying the outdoors in Ontario;

A report should be created and released on efforts of the Ontario government to increase availability of non-consumptive ecotourism opportunities in the province alongside the limited spring bear hunt.
The use of hounds/dogs to chase, tree and/or otherwise harass bears should be immediately halted.