Nearly 14,000 grizzly bears have been killed in B.C. since the government started tracking mortality records for the species in 1975, the vast majority by hunters, according to provincial data compiled by the David Suzuki Foundation.
Of those bears – an estimated 329 each year – 87 per cent have been killed by licensed hunters, with other kills attributed to causes including the shooting of problem bears by conservation officers, illegal poaching and collisions with cars and trains.
A total of 13,804 grizzly bears have been killed by humans from 1975 to 2016, the group says.
Wendy Stueck – Globe and Mail – March 31, 2107.
Hunters are the #1 source of income for the protection of wildlife!
Sounds fairly sustainable with those numbers.
There is definitely a harvestable surplus and a properly regulated legal hunt will not hurt the population. Alberta needs to wise up and reopen the season on the rapidly expanding grizz population in this province