Dear editor,
I am writing in response to Mr. Kyostia’s letter to the editor that recently appeared in your publication. The headline of his letter is, “Grizzly bear slaughter shameful”.
Mr. Kyostia would have you believe that “a very unique area on the B.C. coast that once boasted one the densest concentration of grizzly bears on earth” is now virtually devoid of such creatures. If that were truly the case, then Mr. Kyostia would no longer have his job as Interpretative Naturalist.
Mr. Kyostia alludes to a “ruthless slaughter” of the grizzly bear. The hunting of grizzly bears and other game in the province is well regulated. Grizzly bear hunts are conducted under a Limited Entry Hunt authorization (LEH) for resident hunters and Guide/Outfitter Allocations.
There is only a certain amount of LEH authorizations made available throughout the province. It simply is not possible for each and every resident hunter in the province to buy a grizzly bear tag and proceed to harvest a grizzly bear. So to deem the hunting of grizzly bears a “ruthless slaughter” is not a vestige of truth.
Mr. Kyostia goes on to say, “The government is floundering in its feeble attempt to blindly manage a resource of which very little is known.” Mr. Kyostia states that he is a biologist and as such he would know that the wildlife in B.C. is managed by many of his peers.
I would think that these many provincial biologists would be very well aware of the health of the grizzly bear populations in the province; after all, that is their responsibility. I also believe they would move quickly to make remedy if the populations were in jeopardy.
Mr. Kyostia’s letter is nothing short of rhetoric. He mentions habitat loss, declining salmon stocks but fails to state their impact on the grizzly bear. His letter is nothing more that a diatribe on hunting.
Dennis Youchezin,
Chase, B.C.