Ontario to Expand Black Bear Hunting Pilot

 Province Committed to Sustainable Black Bear Management

News from the Government of Ontario

Posted February 19^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

(A Brief Foreword Note from Doug Draper, Niagara At Large – How on earth would animals like this survive if we humans weren’t around to exercise “sustainable practices” to “manage” their numbers. We can’t even look after ourselves for God’s sake.

We kill more of each other each year in traffic accidents alone than the number of people who are injured or killed by bears in a hundred years!

And that doesn’t even come close to the number of people across Ontario and Canada who die prematurely each year from breathing the smog and other poisons we spew into the air.

But bears and wolves and coyotes. Now there is the real menace!)

Queen’s Park, Toronto – Ontario is expanding the spring bear hunting pilot to gather further information to assess concerns voiced by northern communities about human-bear conflicts, and to support economic growth and tourism in the north.

The spring bear hunt pilot expansion will include:

• Extending the pilot by an additional five years, through 2020
• All 88 wildlife management units that currently have a fall bear hunt
• Non-resident hunters.

Under the expanded pilot, it will still be illegal to hunt bear cubs and females with cubs. Anyone convicted of this offence could face a fine of up to $25,000 and up to one year imprisonment. In most cases, each licensed hunter will only be allowed to hunt one bear in each calendar year.

Baiting of bears during all bear hunting seasons will be regulated to help address public safety concerns, including:

• Bait must not be placed within 500 metres of a residence unless written permission is obtained from the residence’s owner
• Bait must not be placed within 500 metres of a public building
• Bait must not be placed within 200 metres of a right of way for public vehicle traffic or a marked public recreational trail.

QUICK FACTS

• Ontario is home to a healthy and sustainable black bear population with up to 105,000 black bears living in the province.
• The spring bear hunt pilot will take place from May 1 through June 15, starting in 2016 and ending in 2020.
• Currently across Canada, each province and territory with black bears has a spring and fall bear hunt except Nova Scotia, which only has a fall hunt.
• For 2014 and 2015, Ontario held a two-year bear management pilot program in eight wildlife management units, all of which reported high levels of human-bear conflict. The hunt was open to Ontario residents from May 1 to June 15. Communities in and around these units include Timmins, Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and North Bay.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Black bears in Ontario
• Who to contact if you encounter a bear
• Hunting Regulations Summary

QUOTES

“While science shows one of the biggest influences on the number of human-bear encounters is the availability of natural food sources, we also understand that bear-related public concerns are very real for people living in northern and central Ontario and we are committed to assisting those communities to deal with this problem.”
— Bill Mauro, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry 

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