You should know that I was…

You should know that I was born into a family of hunters.

- The "Proposed changes to black bear hunting regulations" are supposed to be based on evidence regarding the accomplishments and milestones of the pilot project and the extended pilot project (not the original strategy written before the hunts). This evidence needs to be released to the public prior to the adoption of the proposed regulations.

- Females with cubs must be “truly” protected during the spring hunt and the fall hunt

- Females with young cubs forage for food while the cubs wait for mom on a tree. Thus, females with cubs are shot and the cubs are orphaned. Those kills are can never be reported accurately.

- The current season runs from May 1 to June 30. It should be changed to Jun1 1 to June 30, when the cubs are old enough to forage with mom---this will ensure the protection of females who have cubs and the cubs themselves

- Baiting should be banned; if it is allowed, then
- baiting must end when the season concludes and not begin again until shortly before the fall season
- more stringent limits must be put in place to protect recreationalists, drivers, property owners, pets and others from bait piles that attract wildlife.
- Baiting should be a minimum of 2 km from the nearest residence or residential area and garbage must be cleared after hunt
- All bait sites should be registered to ensure compliance.

- Thne Ontario Government should increase its enforcement capabilities through funding, infrastructure, and hiring more Conservation Officers---and it should report to the public on such efforts and expenditures.

- The government originally stated in 2014 that a spring bear hunt is about community safety. However, the government´s own evidence demonstrates that the spring beear hunt has no impact on human conflict with bears. What really mitigates and prevents human-bear conflicts is education and enforcement of human behavior, attractants and feeding (such as bird feeders and garbage). Thus, the government should publicly state the fact that the current spring bear hunt is not about public safety but about yielding to the hunting industry and profiting from the hunt.

- Bear hunters represent a very small percentage of people who enjoy recreational activities in the Ontario wilderness. Yet, our safety, freedom to explore and expectations are impacted by that small minority. Our government should create and release the impact of the spring bear hunt on our safety, freedom to explore and expectations.

- I believe that Ontario would benefit more from non-consumptive ecotourism than from consumptive ones. Our government should create more non-consumptive ecotourism activities and create and release a report on them.

- Our government should immediately ban the use of hounds/dogs to chase, tree and/or otherwise harass bears