The new Liberal government of the province of British Columbia in Canada should be congratulated for lifting a hunting moratorium on Grizzly Bears. The Minister of Land, Water and Air Protection, Joyce Murray, believes managed hunts will not have a negative impact on the province’s grizzly bear population. The new Liberal government is not concerned about going against polls that suggest many British Columbians, mainly the urban population, support the moratorium ordered by the New Democratic Party (socialist) government (NDP) last February.

In its May eNewsletter, IWMC reported that the ban was precipitated by a short but effective campaign waged by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), a strident animal rights group, familiar to sustainable users of wildlife around the world. The then ruling government, NDP, was intimidated by threats of boycotts to the tourist industry, called for by the EIA in London, UK, where large billboards were posted. The result has been that Liberal Party leader Gordon Campbell was swept to power in a landslide electoral victory in the Canadian province, winning 76 of 79 seats. The NDP, that invoked the ban, won only 3 seats, an insufficient number to be recognized as official opposition.

The Fish and Wildlife Service of the United States of America is known, mainly in CITES, to provide the rest of the world with lessons on wildlife management. In certain CITES meetings, officials of the US Fish and Wildlife Service have made statements to the fact that "the USA could not trust the way certain developing countries were managing funds allocated to wildlife conservation".

Other countries should be aware of the politics and problems that plague the US Fish and Wildlife Service. While this agency has done some exemplary things, maintaining accountability of millions of dollars of wildlife management funds is not one of their strong points. Having just recovered from a $45 million scandal three years ago, it appears that now the agency cannot conduct and complete the required audits of the $400 million it gives to the state governments each year. Perhaps other countries will take responsibility for their own money management systems after reading the revealing article authored by James M. Beers, Biologist, on the IWMC web site www.iwmc.org