A total of 381 grizzly bears were killed year in B.C., 87 per cent of them by trophy hunters, according to statistics released Friday by the David Suzuki Foundation.The figures include grizzlies killed by conservation officers due to threats to people and property, poaching, and collisions with cars, trains, and other vehicles.
The foundation said the 381 grizzlies killed in 2011 - almost one-third of them females - compare with a 30-year average of 340 grizzlies killed and a high of 443 in 2007.
Faisal Moola, the foundation's director of terrestrial conservation, said the increase in grizzly deaths occurs while the species' habitat is at risk from massive private-sector development projects.
He cited Enbridge's planned Northern Gateway dual-pipeline project running from Alberta to Kitimat on B.C.'s north coast, Taseko's New Prosperity resubmitted gold-copper mine proposal at Fish Lake in the
Chilcotin, and the recently approved Jumbo Glacier Resort in the East Kootenay. Read More
