The Western Canada Wilderness Committee, of which I am a member, has a campaign on to ban grizzly hunting in BC and protect grizzly habitat. They believe the grizzlies are in danger of extinction, and I find their evidence convincing.
If you are interested in finding out a little more, here is some info on their web site.
I wrote a letter to the premier. If you feel like making some slight changes and sending a similar letter to Gordon Campbell, you can email it to premier@gov.bc.ca. Please do!
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November 16, 2008
Premier Gordon Campbell
Government of British Columbia
Room 156 – Parliament Buildings
Victoria, BC V8V 1X4
Dear Premier Campbell,
I am writing in support of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee campaign to protect grizzly bears from extinction. I enclose a report from WC2 that describes our view of why grizzlies are endangered.
It is my understanding that when the Liberal party came into power in the 2004 election, you made the decision to go against the wishes of 80% of the BC population and reintroduce trophy hunting of grizzly bears. At that time I participated in a campaign to end the trophy hunting. To my knowledge, you have not taken the steps we called for to reinstate the ban on trophy hunting.
My personal view is that humans need wilderness and wild animals, even if many people live in cities and don’t get to see them. We need to know they are there, for our psychological, emotional, and spiritual well-being. The human race will be a very lonely species once the wild animals are gone. Grizzlies are an integral part of our biosphere, and each species that becomes extinct creates a hole in the fabric of the earth system that supports our life. I am concerned that the magnificent grizzly bear will soon be extinct unless you take action soon to reverse some of the trends that are leading to the habitat destruction that has so threatened our grizzly friends.
So there are three things I request that you, as leader of my province’s government, do:
– reinstate the ban on trophy hunting of grizzlies in BC.
– develop and implement a recovery plan for each grizzly population in southern BC. This will require protecting core habitat and working with U.S. border-states to protect grizzlies on both sides of the border.
– create a community education program to teach people how to co-habitate with grizzlies and other wildlife such as cougars and wolves.
Please write back to let me know what steps you are taking to protect grizzlies and their habitat.
Kind regards,
Karen Rempel, MA (Ecopsychology)
President
Monkey Valley Enterprises Inc.