Here's the article in the Victoria Columnist newspaper;
Video of bear's death sparks Haida protest
No rules broken, says province's chief conservation officer
Judith Lavoie, Victoria Times Colonist
Published: Thursday, April 10, 2008
YouTube video of bear killing on Haida Gwaii
A gruesomely graphic video of the death throes of a black bear, gunned down on a logging road on the Queen Charlotte Islands by whooping and laughing hunters, is being used to mobilize protesters and members of the Haida Nation who want an end to trophy hunting on Haida Gwaii.
The video, shot four years ago by a cook working for Prophet Muskwa guide outfitters, which holds bear hunting licences in the area, is posted on YouTube and shows the bear trying to stagger to its feet as a total of six shots are fired.
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Another boasts about the injured bear snarling as he dragged it up from the bank it tried to climb.
A protest is being organized for Saturday outside the hunting lodge. One of the organizers is poet Susan Musgrave, who divides her time between Victoria and the Queen Charlottes.
However, the Ministry of Environment says the video does not show any violation of hunting regulations.
"We got a copy back in 2004 and we went through it carefully and there are no violations shown," said provincial chief conservation officer Mark Hayden.
Kevin Olmstead, Prophet Muskwa guide outfitter, said problems are being manufactured by a small group of agitators.
"We are doing everything according to the law and they don't want us to do it because it is not benefiting them," Olmstead said.
It is always preferable to kill an animal with one shot, but there are times when it takes multiple shots, he said.
"What you see in the video is probably one of the worst set of shots, but there's all sorts of things in between that and dispatching the animal with the perfect one shot."
Olmstead said the former employee chose the worst-case scenario, out of hundreds of videos, to hand to opponents.
All edible parts of the animal are removed, as required by law, and given to an Island resident who makes it into sausages, he said.
Guujaw, president of the Council of the Haida Nation, cannot see any good reason why people should be allowed to come to Haida Gwaii to shoot bears - an animal tied culturally to the Haida.
The video shows what people on the Islands know to be a usual kind of hunt, he said.
"There is an absolute disrespect for life to laugh as you kill a bear," he said.
"It's just a disgusting habit these guys have to be getting their kicks by driving around and killing things."
Research shows there is little genetic difference between the protected white spirit bear and the Haida Gwaii black bear, said Guujaw, who is considering making a black bear poster saying "you wouldn't shoot me if I was white."
Guujaw said he believed the province had agreed three years ago to stop the trophy hunt and negotiations are now underway to try and settle the issue.
Environment Ministry spokeswoman Kate Thompson said a 2005 memo sets out terms for discussing an end to commercial bear hunting on the Queen Charlottes, but is not an agreement.
Musgrave and a group of islanders, the Friends of Taan - the Haida name for bear - say there has been no black bear census on the Queen Charlottes, so no one knows whether the hunt is sustainable.
Many of the hunters are from the U.S. and Europe and pay up to $10,000 for a chance to kill a bear.
"It's a pitiable act of cruelty, one disturbingly out of touch with a time when many of us are concerned about the preservation of life on our battered and bartered planet," Musgrave said.
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