Squamish Man is Charged Over Fatal Grizzly Shooting

By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: Dec. 10, 2012

A Squamish man will appear in Pemberton Provincial Court in January over charges relating to the shooting death of  a grizzly bear near Pemberton.

The grizzly was shot near Pemberton in November 2011.

The bear was an approximately 800 pound male grizzly who was roughly 20 years old and in good health and condition for a bear of this age.

The bear represented an important genetic link between fractured populations of grizzly bears in the area, said Sgt. Peter Busink.

As a result of an investigation by the Conservation Officer Service, the Squamish suspect was identified.

In November this year,  Crown Counsel approved 2 charges under the BC Wildlife Act:

Those were killing wildlife not within open season, and failure to report killing of game by accident or for protection.

The summons were summoned this December.

The BC government estimates there are 15,000 grizzly bears in the province, corroborated by active research at 20 different research sites in the province.

Grizzly bear hunting is not permitted in the area where the incident took place, although it is allowed in parts of Northern and South Eastern B.C.

Grizzly bears are neither threatened nor endangered in British Columbia. They are classified as vulnerable mainly because of social intolerance by humans to living in close proximity to bears, and agricultural and industrial damage to, and fragmentation of, important habitats.

One of every four grizzly bears remaining in North America lives in BC.

Research of government records by the David Suzuki Foundation shows 381 grizzly bears were killed last year.

Eighty-seven per cent of these deaths were attributed to the legal trophy hunting of grizzly bears, the report said.

Three per cent of recorded grizzly deaths were the result of poaching, although the report claims government believes this number could be twice as high.

The Conservation Officer Service has also received numerous complaints to date regarding improper disposal of wildlife remains by hunters.  Some of the complaints include animal parts being dumped in ditches, highway pullouts, near trails, on private property and near residential areas.

The few hunters that do this are in violation of the Environmental Management Act: discharge, dump, discard or dispose litter ($115).