A 3-Year moratorium on grizzly bear hunting in British Columbia was announced by the NDP government on Thursday, February 8, 2001. The decision was not based on science as promised by the Premier. It was a political move in reaction to billboards in London, England erected by animal rights groups. These same groups stopped fox hunting in England and are now trying to stop all fishing. This ill-advised moratorium suits the objectives of these animals rights organizations. It discredits the work of government grizzly bear biologists and undermines 50 years of scientific management.	These biologists have consistently maintained that the majority of grizzly bear populations in BC are healthy and scientifically managed and are not threatened by recreational hunting as it is currently managed. There is a minimum of 13,000 grizzly bears in the Province. Recent DNA inventories confirm that grizzly bears are neither threatened nor endangered in British Columbia. BC’s population of grizzly bears is currently stable overall and at or near carrying capacity in the province’s remaining most productive ecosystems.
92% of BC’s grizzly bear habitat is still occupied by grizzlies. 81% of that habitat has grizzly bears at or near historic levels. Click to view a map	The increasing use of the backcountry will mean greater conflict between humans and bears. Banning grizzly bear hunting will result in more grizzly bears of the wrong kind (females and cubs) dying in problem bear control actions.