The Grizzly Facts

• More than 300 grizzly bears are shot each year by trophy hunters under a government-run system. Many of them are wounded and need to be shot several times before they die.

• Trophy hunters who shoot grizzlies leave the carcass to rot in the bush. They do not eat the meat. The government allows this.

• BC is the only province in Canada that allows the killing of this great icon of the wilderness.

• In a poll last year 78 percent of British Columbians said the hunt was unethical. Alberta banned the grizzly hunt several years ago.

• The BC Ministry of Environment lists grizzly bears as threatened even as it continues to quietly promote this inhumane and unnecessary hunt.

• The Ministry of Environment requires that hunters cut off a testicle, part of the penis or a teat to prove the sex of the bear for its records.

• This shows that roughly one third of grizzly bears shot by hunters are female, imperiling the species chance to survive.

• The grizzlies bear's historic range has shrunk dramatically but the government still doesn't know how many grizzlies we have left.

• A few government scientists two the official line but many of the government population estimates have been shown by independent scientists to be wildly inaccurate.

• A grizzly tag for a resident hunter cost in the vicinity of $100 – the Ministry failed to provide us with exact figures despite requests.

• Eco-tourism now brings in many, many times the income of that of trophy hunters. A bear can be viewed hundreds of times but only shot once.

• The BC Ministry of Environment, which works hand in glove with the grizzly hunters to plan the hunt, wants to shut us up ahead of the Olympics.

• In a recent meeting one ministry official called the grizzly hunters "our clients" and refused to allow non-hunters any say in making policy.

• They have also refused requests for information and small closures in area where grizzly populations are shown to be threatened.

• Now it's time to go above the heads of the bureaucrats and appeal directly to Gordon Campbell, a premier who has said that environmental issues are hugely important.

• The First Nations are with us, the Environmentalists are with us, and even most hunters oppose this unnecessary and economically disastrous hunt.