We strongly urge the…

We strongly urge the Government of Ontario to abandon its proposal to reintroduce the spring bear hunt. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry's argument that replacing a temporary pilot Spring Bear hunt with a reinstated Spring Bear hunt would remove uncertainty about hunting bears in the spring in unfounded, as permanently cancelling the spring bear hunt would also remove uncertainty. The Ministry's own studies show that a proposed spring bear hunt would have no effect on human safety as regards human-bear conflicts. The ERO posting provides no information to back the claim that the economic consequences of the Spring Bear hunt would be neutral to positive. The Spring Bear hunt is ethically unsupportable, as nursing mother bears will be killed during the hunt and the cubs will starve.

In conclusion, the reintroduction of the Spring Bear hunt is not supported by concern for human safety, certainty of scheduling, economic benefit and ethical reasons. We urge the Government to do the right thing, to not reintroduce the Spring Bear hunt.