Ethics are rules of conduct or moral values which guide the behavior of particular communities. Ethics can reflect a cultural lens through which we view the world. They represent our life-long learning experiences and expectations of how to behave, and what is expected of us as individuals in society.

The hunting of bears creates a direct interest in proper bear conservation. Thus, more resources are devoted to population and habitat inventories and habitat protection. If bears don't have some economic value there is a risk of them becoming a nuisance to society and taking on vermin status. Without hunters and hunting revenues, there would be much less interest in the bear and investment in its management.

Hunters do not agree that stopping hunting would be in the best interest of the bear. Animal rights activists confuse the survival of individual bears with the best interests of the bear population as a whole. Stopping hunting to save individual bears will not affect the major problem of habitat loss. Nor will it solve the problem of what to do with surplus bears which conflict with humans.

There is no clear, ethical "line in the sand" to guide all people and all parts of modern society about how we are to use animals. Our cultural communities are just too diverse. Each individual must be free to decide about hunting based on his or her own cultural perspective and ethical values. It's simply not fair, in a complex pluralistic society, to allow the moral views and values of one small group tobe dictated to us all.

Many activities in our society are practiced by only a few people. These can be in conflict with the majority's norms. Yet in a democracy, we try to accommodate and tolerate a broad spectrum of ethical and cultural perspectives. Not all societies are like ours. Many societies are closely bound to one particular religion or set of moral values, and force individuals to conform to uniform cultural norms. In Canada, it's appropriate that the rights of minorities, such as grizzly-bear hunters, be guarded to avoid the tyranny of zealots.