BEAR
HUNTERS CONFRONT CAMPAIGN TO PUT THEM INTO PERMANENT HIBERATION
Alberni
Valley Times
1996-06-14
Bears,
whether Black, Brown, Grizzly or Polar, are not endangered species in
North America. Mark Lee wants to keep it that way.
The
campaigner for Western Canada Wilderness Committee was in Port
Alberni Thursday night with his effort to ban sport and trophy
hunting of Grizzly and Black bears.
It
was a very hard sell to the audience of about 70 dominated by hunters
and hunting guides that packed into a into small, hot room at the
Friendship Centre, made even hotter by the temper flaring up from
wall to wall.
The
hunters say they are the endangered species. They wanted the
distinction between legal hunting and poaching to be clearly
recognized. “Go ask the bears, to see if they can,” said Lee. He
also said that some hunters and guides make this impossible, because
they are themselves poachers.
Lee
believes that, with both legal hunting, poaching and conservation
officer kills, about 8% of the Grizzly bear population and more than
10% of the Black bear population are being killed each year. He said
the province’s Grizzly Bear Conservation Strategy clearly states
that the species can sustain no more than a 4% annual mortality
before going into decline, and even this, according to Lee, is too
high.
Members
of the audience disputed Lee’s numbers saying that, on Vancouver
Island at least, the Black bear population has been increasing by 15%
for the last 10 years. Lee countered that the Black bear populations
on southern Vancouver Island, and some in Mid-Island, have been
decimated in various locales, citing the Cowichan Lake area as an
example, and challenged the hunters to produce written documentation
to support their claim, which they did not.
A
number of people asked why Lee’s main thrust was to shut down legal
hunting when the problem is poaching. Lee replied that both in
combination is the problem, and that he has another sub-campaign
targeting poachers and traffickers of bear parts. A Chinese Canadian,
Marr has taken on both Canadian hunters and the Chinese demand for
the body parts of these animals.
After
about an hour of cross firing, WCWC campaign assistant Erica Dennis
finally stood up and said that until poaching can be brought under
control, they want to buy time for the bears to recover. One of the
hunters pointed at her and said, “Young lady, you are not old
enough to teach us anything. Sit down!” Lee pointed at a
middle-aged woman in the audience who had been quite outspoken in
favour of hunting, saying, “I’ve been listening to this young
lady for the last hour. Erica, please proceed.”
Lee
needs to get hunters on his side, the woman said, not slam them,
because hunters also want to stop poaching.
Some
audience members said it is organizations such as WCWC, advertising
the fact that bear parts are worth so much on the black market, that
is increasing poaching. Lee scoffed at this as an “ostrich
attitude”.
They
objected to being told that they can’t legally hunt bears, but
bears that get into garbage and smash bee hives can be killed for
being a nuisance. Lee said, “The bears you kill are not nuisance
bears, and killing nuisance bears is not your job.”
When
shown a picture of a bear shut in a small cage with a tube leading
out from its gall bladder to extract bile, one man said that
countries that treat animals like that are not democratic and so they
have no conscience. Lee countered that lots of capitalists have no
conscience either.
Another
man was convinced that if WCWC is successful in shutting down bear
hunting, it will try to shut down all hunting. Lee said, “If
another hunted species becomes threatened or endangered, I would
champion its cause as well.
Back
to poaching, Lee said that when an animal such as the tiger and the
rhino is declared endangered, the demand and price, and so the
poaching, skyrocket, hastening its slide into oblivion. “It is a
very vicious cycle, and the purpose of this campaign is to try to
keep our own bears out of it.” . . .
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FUR
FLIES AT MEETING TO BAN BEAR HUNT
The
Prince George Citizen
1996-07-05
It
was barely civil and sometimes downright ugly. In the end, it took a
representative of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee close to
two hours to deliver a plea for help to ban bear hunting in BC.
Anthony Marr was interrupted, shouted down, and generally abused by
hunters in an audience of more than 100 that spilled out of the
conference room at the Civic Centre Thursday evening…Marr had
barely begun…before he was attacked…
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTIVIST
PLEADS FOR BEAR HUNT BAN
The
Daily News, Kamloops, BC
1996-07-09
With
calm and respect, Anthony Marr faced rapid-fire questioning from
hunters and threw back a plea for them to stop hunting bears…
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEAR
HUNT FOE ATTACKED IN CITY
Beaten
but unbowed – Mark Lee says he is undeterred in his campaign
despite beating.
The
Vancouver Sun
1998-01-21
An
environmentalist known for his opposition to bear hunting and the
black market for animal parts was recovering Tuesday after being
attacked in Vancouver’s West End.
Mark
Lee said he was waylaid about 7:30 p.m. Monday in the 1600 block of
Haro Street as he made his way to his car after a dinner with his
parents at their home.
Environmental
groups have been complaining about a sharp increase in threats of
physical violence directed at their members.
“I
was parked in the lane”, Lee said. “There was this guy waiting
for me by my car. He advanced a few steps and said, ‘Are you Mark
Lee?’ I said yes and he immediately launched his attack. It
happened so fast I didn't even have time to turn the other cheek.”
Lee…
said his assailant was “over six feet and around 200 pounds” and
rained blows upon his head and face, fracturing facial bones and
damaging his eye socket.
“Then
he said, ‘Let this be a lesson to you,’ and walked off,” Lee
said.
The
University of British Columbia Hospital confirmed that Lee was
admitted and treated in the emergency ward shortly after 7:30 p.m..
Vancouver city police confirmed receiving his report of the attack
about 8:40 p.m.
Lee
recently led a controversial and widely publicized Western Canada
Wilderness Committee campaign to have bear hunting banned in BC.
He
has also been active in successfully pressuring government for
controls in the black market on endangered species parts in the Asian
community…
Lee’s
silver 1993 Mazda sports car and its license plate became well known
during the anti-hunting campaign, he says.
Lee
drove 12,000 kilometers and visited almost every significant
community in BC during the summer of 1996, holding public and private
meetings that laid the groundwork for a province-wide initiative
petition towards driving a referendum vote on banning bear hunting.
Campaigners
obtained 93,000 signatures in a 90-day blitz that mobilized 1,800
volunteers, but fell well short of the 250,000 or 10 percent of the
electorate - needed to force government action under recall and
initiative legislation.
The
initiative campaign, however, gave Lee a high media profile.
He
said he was constantly harassed by pro-hunting (forces). Pickup
trucks tailgated his car and he received anonymous threats of
violence by phone.
“My
reaction is that it merely strengthens my resolve to continue with
this campaign,” said Lee...
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