Coastal First Nations http://www.coastalfirstnations.ca/
Humane Society International/Canada http://www.hsi.org/world/canada/
The Spirit Bear Youth Coalition. http://www.spiritbearyouth.org/
The Great Bear Rainforest (together with the Haida Gwaii)
holds the largest area of intact coastal temperate rainforest in the world.
This ecosystem has become so rare, it now covers less than 1% of the planet’s
entire land mass. It supports many threatened and unique species, such as
wolves, grizzly bears, and black bears. It is also home to the extraordinary
spirit bear, which as Krista explained, is a genetically distinct subspecies of
the black bear with white fur due to a recessive gene. However, this habitat and
the species living there are facing many threats…
Only 50% of the Great Bear Rainforest is protected from
logging, and the BC government says they need until 2014 to increase that to
70%.
The government also allows trophy hunting of black bears and
grizzly bears within 98% of the spirit bear’s range, including protected areas. People come from all over in search of the biggest kill. Although it is illegal to hunt the spirit bear, the black bears that are
carriers of the white fur gene are fair game. When the proper gene pool is
intact, 1 out of every 10 black bears are spirit bears. If these bears were to
become endangered, it would be extremely difficult to increase their numbers through
captive breeding, due to this fact. That is why it is exceptionally important to
conserve the delicate ecological balance that has allowed the spirit bears to
survive for thousands of years. This senseless slaughter threatens the genetic
diversity of these unique populations. The spirit bear is the icon of our
province. It is so rare to begin with, we should be doing everything we can to
preserve this celebrated animal. How are we supposed to save the spirit bear,
if there are no black bears to carry the gene in the first place?
Even though the grizzly bear is not as renowned as the
spirit bear, it is still an important part of BC. This is one of the few places
in North America where the grizzly bear has not been extirpated, but it is
still a threatened species. Yet, approximately 300 grizzly bears are killed per
year in BC by trophy hunters.
Countless organizations have made it their mission to
protect the Great Bear Rainforest, save the spirit bear, and end trophy hunting
in this area. Pacific Wild, The Spirit Bear Youth Coalition, Humane Society
International/Canada, Coastal First Nations, and Sierra Club BC (to name a few)
have been educating the public and fighting to increase the protection of the
Great Bear Rainforest. People
would rather watch these beautiful creatures in their natural environment,
instead of see them hung on walls as trophies. To learn more, please visit the above websites to see
what they are doing to support this cause.
Word Count: 492
These videos also summarize the issues quite well (but I am
warning, you will feel depressed after).
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/v/DOPWZ8gOAO8?version=3&f=playlists&app=youtube_gdata
