Permanent spring black bear season in Ontario has experts divided

Black bear cub orphaning is a significant issue when it comes to the hunting of black bears, as often it is difficult for a hunter to distinguish a male bear from a female, especially when it’s cubs are not immediately with their mother. Photo by Mike McIntosh, Bear With Us

By Max Reid

BELLEVILLE – Hunters and animal advocates are divided over the provincial government’s proposal to make the spring bear hunt a permanent fixture in Ontario.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry is seeking the public’s input on a proposal to fully adopt the spring black bear hunting season introduced through a pilot project in 2016. The pilot provided hunters an additional spring hunting season in addition to the pre-existing fall hunt. At the time, Ontario, along with Nova Scotia, was one of the only provinces that didn’t have a spring black bear hunt.

In the Quinte region, a hunter is free to hunt black bears as far west as Colborne, as far east as Napanee and as far north as Madoc and Marmora. As it stands, the open season for black bears in this section of land starts in the fall on Sept. 1 and runs until Nov. 30. The spring season currently goes from May 1 to June 15.

The provincial government says one of the reasons it’s proposing a spring hunt is, in part, to support communities in northern Ontario whose economies rely on tourism from hunting as well as for the revenue created from the sale of bear products, according to a document outlining its plans posted last Friday. The accompanying media release also points out the $2.4 million in government revenue produced by the sale of bear licenses in Ontario.

The proposal does not necessarily increase hunting to all regions. It does account for certain declining bear populations in areas like the Bruce Peninsula where the spring bear hunting season will be reduced to one week.

Ontario had a spring black bear hunt up until 1999 when it was cancelled by former premier Mike Harris amid concerns over black bear cubs being orphaned by hunters. In Ontario, it is illegal to hunt a female black bear or her cubs, the penalty for which can leave a hunter with a $25,000 fine and up to a year in prison.

Wildlife biologist Dr. Keith Munro considers the 1999 cancellation “a misinformation campaign put out by people opposed to the hunt.”

“The cancellation was not driven by any sustainability concerns, but instead by what I would consider emotional rhetoric,” says Munro.

Munro represents the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, and he says that its research found that “the orphaning of bear cubs by hunters is an extremely rare event.” He suggests that in reality, some of the leading causes of cub orphaning come from accidental vehicle collisions and cannibalism on the part of male bears.

There are those who dispute Munro’s claims, however, and just as easily accuse hunting organizations of perpetuating misinformation in order to promote the spring hunt.

Mike McIntosh operates Bear With Us, a bear sanctuary and rehabilitation centre north of Huntsville that treats and releases wounded bears back into the wild. He says that “hunting organizations capitalize on the fear of the public and exaggerate the actual fear. People then don’t care if a bear gets hunted, or how it gets hunted.”

He quoted the late Dan George, chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation in B.C. in saying, “What one fears, one destroys.”

McIntosh cites his 27 years of bear rehabilitation experience when he says that “of the many hundreds of bears we’ve worked with, I could say without a doubt that at least 99% of them came from human activity.”

He wants to make it clear: “I’m not anti-hunt. I get a little frustrated with the lies and the misinformation that’s constantly spewing out of these hunting lobbyists. Because I don’t even think they represent the honest, good hunter.”

The comment period for the public to give their input on the proposal closes on Feb. 18.