Why no person in BC is aware of how a lot black bears are

They are common themes of news stories at this time of the year, usually as a result of interaction with humans and urban areas. But how common is the black bear in BC?

Wildlife advocates say that its answer is clear, and the species require better data to understand and understand, many of which are destroyed as a result of becoming a habit for human food.

Helen Davis, a professional biologist registered with Artemis Wildlife Consultants, said, “I want some more pressure on the government to address the difference of this big knowledge that we do not know how many we have.”

“We don’t know if we are hunting too much, if we are killing too much through conflict.”

Material from government since 2001 It is said that there are 120,000 and 160,000 black bears throughout the province, and “although the number of bears varies from the year -year and the houses available to them are gradually shrinking due to the development of the land, the species are currently not rare, threatened or threatened in British Columbia.”

Biologists like Davis, who with the first nation, Bear Dens wants bears in old-development forests protected with the law of the provinceIt is said that there may be a misconception that there is a major species of ecological and cultural value, when data supporting data is older or even suspicious.

“120,000 to 160,000 estimates are repeated repeatedly in the press,” Davis said. Omniphy stories about black bears are becoming a nuisance bear Due to conflict with humans.

“And yet if you ask the government where the number comes from, they cannot produce any kind of data.”

Davis and others, such as Quakital First Nation, Want Modern survey To help manage the species more accurately to estimate the number of black bears and the ecological relationship they thrive in.

“The bear is part of our original stories through some families,” the walus said ‘N’AMugis, a hereditary head with Quakal First Nation, whose English name is David Mungo Knoc.

“And why it is so important to talk about the bear and talk about old growth because without a bear, they will not find old salmon bodies for old mother tree roots, which are 1,000 years old trees,” he said that salmon bodies act as fertilizers for trees in the forests.

Provincial statistics With over 8,000 in a period of 14 years, show hundreds of destroyed each year. Black bears are also cut during annuals Two hunting seasonsJoe, on average, 5,000 more bears were killed every year.

Other pressure on animals comes from destroying its dens in trees by logging in to old-development forests. The dens are currently preserved by Heda Gwai and Great Beer Renforest, and some logging companies.

Provincial scientists say, while a meditation in the past has been on their number and number. Ban on trophy huntingWork is being done to ensure the health of the black bear population.

Tony Hamilton was a major carnivor scientist of the province since 1982, until he retired in 2018. He worked on the originally quoted estimate of the population of the black bear.

This was done through a comparative ranking of the quality of the habitat in BC and assigned estimates of 100 or 1,000 square kilometers per black bear density per 100 or 1,000 square kilometers.

Set the objective for the animal

Hamilton also said that it is possible that the BC may have a low end of a black bear population, but an overall population number may not be helpful for stress management.

“Clearly, I now have the brain that BC pursues a single population estimate for a single point for a time in BC.” He should carry forward, “he said. “Instead, I think we should focus on determining the objective for the animal.”

This is something that supports his successor, both said that the resources required for large-scale, and expensive population studies during the huge variety of BC’s ecosystem can be spent on better known problems such as orphan bears, backyards and human-bear struggles in agricultural fields, while managing the bear beans and managing Black Beer Hunt.

“This puts it back to the question … can we minimize the number of killed because it’s a good thing and these animals have not been killed in struggle?” Garth Mowat, the current big carnivor expert of BC said.

Mowat did a study, Published in 2021In an area of ​​the middle Vancouver Island, shown that the black bear density 569 bears per 1,000 square kilometers per 1,000 square kilometers per 1,000 square shore, which exceeds several black bear density along the western coast of North America. “

The study also states that the average hunting (harvesting) rate was “similar to other areas in BC, within the limits of neighboring courts, and generally reported within permanent boundaries reported.”

While advocates continue to emphasize for better data around the black bear, all sides of the debate agree that the BCs should have residents. Know about black bear And do them on their behalf to help them avoid destroying them on issues in our control.