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BIG WILDLIFE PRESS RELEASES

August 10, 2009 - Big Wildlife Urges End to Bear Hunt in Oregon

Williams, Oregon � Today, Big Wildlife condemned Oregon officials for continuing the state's annual black bear hunt, which runs from August to end of December. The wildlife advocates said trophy hunting of bears is scientifically indefensible, unethical, and cruel and urged the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) to end bear hunting altogether. According to ODFW records, every year, nearly 1,000 bears are legally killed by hunters in Oregon. ODFW also holds controlled spring bear hunts and spring bear hunts for youths in targeted areas of the state. (Click here to review ODFW bear hunt data. Scroll down to link "2007 Bear Hunt Statistics.") An estimated 40,000 to 50,000 bears are legally hunted in the US each year, while an unknown number are also illegally poached.

�Bear hunting is bad news for bears. Instead of letting trophy hunters turn these magnificent animals into throw rugs by the fireplace or a head on the wall, the agency should provide vigorous protections for bears,� said Brian Vincent, Communications Director with Big Wildlife, an international wildlife advocacy organization based in Williams, Oregon.

Big Wildlife said it opposed bear hunting for a number of reasons:

�         The ODFW has failed to assess the impacts of poaching. Illegal killing of bears has increased nationwide, fueled by a booming international market, for bear parts, especially bear gallbladders used in traditional Asian medicine and bear paws, considered a delicacy in soup. Bear gallbladders can go for $5,000 a pound, an enticing price that has spurred bear poaching across the US. Recently, five men were arrested in Deschutes County, Oregon for poaching bears and other wild animals in the state and in Idaho.

�         Hunting black bears is cruel and unethical. In addition to a general hunt, the ODFW holds controlled spring bear hunts and youth bear hunts from April 1-May 31. Killing bears in the spring inevitably leads to orphaned cubs, who are still nursing at the time. These cubs, unable to survive on their own, are left to starve to death or be killed by predators. Allowing children to kill bears is especially troubling because inexperienced hunters are more likely to get off a poor shot, wounding the animal and leading to a slow, painful death for the animal. Trophy hunting teaches children to be insensitive to the suffering of bears and other animals. Bears can also be killed with bow and arrow in Oregon, which studies reveal produce an unacceptably high wounding rate. Finally, though placing bait to lure bears is illegal in Oregon, hunters are permitted to apply scent to attract bears, a practice Big Wildlife says is hardly "fair sport."

�         Hunting puts additional pressures on bears, who are facing a host of threats from poaching, habitat fragmentation and destruction, human encroachment into wildlife areas, aggressive government lethal control programs, and climate change.

�         Hunting of bears ignores the ecological value of these animals. Bears often scavenge for food, playing an important role in recycling carrion. Along salmon spawning streams, bear scat and the remains of fish carried into the woods contribute to the nutrient cycle in old-growth forest.

"Hunting has made life unbearable for many bears in Oregon," said Vincent. "Hunting bears isn't 'sport.' It is cold-blooded killing of one of Nature's most majestic animals," Vincent said.

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