IWMC  World Conservation Trust

Ottawa, 20 February 2005

Honourable David Ramsay
Minister of Natural Resources
Government of Ontario
Canada

Fax: 416-314-2216
Re: Science and biology - Northern Ontario Bear Problem

Honourable Minister:

It is IWMC's concern that the MNR is not allowed to manage Ontario's wildlife using traditional science and biology and is forced to follow politically-oriented instructions imposed by the animal rights groups. The issue of black bears in Ontario is known worldwide, not for the quality of the programs managing the bear populations, but for the confusion and problems created when governments listen to the wrong people.

A proposal by the Northwestern Ontario Sportsmens Alliance that a program be instituted through the MNR for the reintroduction of black bears into their traditional southern Ontario range was submitted to you. However, it seems that you dismissed this proposal because "moving the bears south would be allowing the bear problems from the north to be repeated in the southern part of the province". In fact, you were then acknowledging that there is a black bear problem in northern Ontario.

A black bear study in Manitoba, by recognized biologists and scientists, advocating a spring black bear hunt as a viable method of controlling black bear problems, has been ignored by your ministry. Should we understand that it cannot be applied to Ontario… where the spring hunt was cancelled due to pressure from animal rights groups? Why would you ignore the concerns of northern Ontario residents?

Honourable Minister, unless firm steps are taken by your ministry in northern Ontario, human beings will be killed or badly injured by black bears in a near future, with dramatic consequences on tourism in the region.

IWMC World Conservation Trust is an international non-governmental organization, incorporated in Canada, which represents sustainable use members from several countries around the world. IWMC has offices in Argentina, Canada, China, Japan and United States. Its headquarters are in Switzerland. IWMC is accredited to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the FAO Fisheries Committee, the International Whaling Commission, and several other international conventions aiming at conserving wildlife.

We aim at promoting the sustainable use of wild resources - whether terrestrial or aquatic, as a conservation mechanism, at re-establishing the fundamental link between all components of nature, including man while developing better understanding, respect and tolerance towards cultures and values of all nations and social groups in their relation with nature. Our worldwide experience has demonstrated, day after day, that avoiding to manage wildlife through concerns expressed by animal rights is the best recipe for failure. Anywhere in the world, people sharing the land or the waters with wild animals, are still the best to advise their governments on how to manage such wildlife.

IWMC would be glad to share with you and your officials its expertise and experiences mainly on the conflicts between animal rights and credible conservation and management techniques. In the meantime I shall be glad to send you a copy of my book (so far published in 5 languages, Chinese, English, French, Japanese and Spanish), which deals precisely with this conflictual situation and its consequences on both human beings and wildlife.

Yours truly,

Eugene Lapointe
IWMC President
Former Secretary General of CITES (1982-1990)

Promoting the Sustainable Use of Wild Resources
- Whether Terrestrial or Aquatic
- as a Conservation Mechanism