Grizzly Population in Decline: September 10th, 2009 marked the beginning of the fall bear hunt. Field surveys showing the current dismal salmon season also report a scarcity of bears so why sanction a TROPHY HUNT?
GRIZZLIES STARVE AS SALMON DISAPPEAR
BY MARK HUME, Globe and Mail, 9/9/09
"As salmon numbers drop, bears are also few and far between along B.C.'s wild central coast – signalling what conservationists say is an unfolding ecological disaster.
Reports from conservationists, salmon-stream walkers and ecotourism guides all along British Columbia's wild central coast indicate a collapse of salmon runs has triggered widespread death from starvation of black and grizzly bears.
... chum salmon runs in the area have collapsed...chum are the key food item for bears preparing for hibernation. Without an adequate supply of big salmon late in the year ... bears do not have enough fat to survive the winter in their dens.
The Fraser River, on the south coast, where 10.6 million sockeye were expected, but only about 1.6 million returned...."
Maybe a harbiger of the collapse of our coast ecosystems?
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