VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 18 (UPI) -- A challenge to the province of British Columbia has been raised by Canadian Indians and animal rights activists to end the annual "trophy" hunt of bears.
At a Vancouver news conference, flanked by Humane Society International officials and Pacific Wild activists, Kitasoo Indian Chief Percy Starr appealed for a ban on the killing of grizzlies and black bears for sport, the Vancouver Sun reported.
Art Sterritt of Coastal First Nations said the hunt, in which people pay guides as much as $20,000 for a grizzly bear and about $6,500 for a black bear, was a disgrace.
"Our elders have seen carcasses of bears floating down rivers denuded of their hides and heads and paws," Sterritt said.
Environment Ministry spokeswoman Kate Thompson said there are about 16,000 grizzlies and 80,000 to 100,000 black bears in British Columbia, the report said.
The 30,000-member British Columbia Wildlife Federation has said bear hunting is sustainable in the province.
Provincial records indicate trophy hunters killed 317 grizzlies in 2008, down from 365 in 2007. For black bears, 3,476 were shot in 2006, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the newspaper said.
