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Hunters’ protest fails to move province to change allocation rules

A protest by hundreds of camouflage-wearing hunters at the B.C. legislature Monday has failed to change government’s decision to give more wildlife to foreign trophy hunters.
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Hunter Letitia Wilson with her dog, Thor, at MondayÕs protest at the B.C. legislature against wildlife allocations.

A protest by hundreds of camouflage-wearing hunters at the B.C. legislature Monday has failed to change government’s decision to give more wildlife to foreign trophy hunters.

Natural Resource Operations Minister Steve Thomson told reporters he has no plans to revise the allocation that shifts 60 animals from local hunters to guides and their foreign clients.

“We feel that we’ve made a balanced decision,” he told reporters.

More than 300 hunters on the legislature lawn vehemently disagreed. They accused Thomson of favouring foreign trophy hunters at the expense of locals. Many of them travelled from across the province — some with their hunting dogs — to voice their displeasure with boos and duck calls.

Lindsey Borsa, 63, sported a sign that said “Fill Freezers Not Pockets,” while her dog, Jager, wore a “Don’t Sell my Moose Bones” sign. She and her husband, Larry, came from Clearwater to join the protest. “Rich foreigners come for trophies and that’s it,” Borsa said. “B.C. resident hunters fill their freezers and feed their families with that meat.

“There’s some of the draws now where I don’t think I’ll have a chance in my lifetime to get it. Yet, if a rich foreigner pays $30,000, he can come and do it. There are people that come and buy two hunts in a year and spend $60,000. I think it’s pathetic.”

Inside the legislature, Green Party MLA Andrew Weaver tabled a 16,000-name petition urging government to repeal the allocation policy. NDP MLA Katrine Conroy tabled three others with more than 4,000 names.

“This policy reduces opportunities for resident hunters and increases opportunities for non-resident hunters,” NDP leader John Horgan told the legislature. “That’s an allocation arrangement that’s not acceptable to the people of British Columbia, whether they hunt or they don’t.”

Thomson released the new harvest allocation policy before Christmas. Initially, he said the changes would transfer 186 animals from B.C. hunters to guide outfitters. He revised that to 60 last month in the face of mounting anger from hunters and the B.C. Wildlife Federation.

Weaver, however, said the adjustment was “little more than a patronizing response” to hunters’ concerns. “The erosion of a hunter’s access to B.C. game is yet another example of government putting the needs of special-interest groups ahead of those of regular British Columbians,” he told cheering hunters.

Weaver introduced legislation Monday that would make it more difficult for foreign trophy hunters by requiring them to transport the meat from their kills back to their homes.

“For local sustenance hunters, this will not have an effect, because the vast majority, the overwhelming majority of B.C. hunters are already doing this,” he said.

The harvest allocation applies to 34 hunts of big game animals, including moose, elk, grizzly, caribou and bighorn sheep. In the past, B.C. hunters took 6,200, while guides and their foreign clients took 1,350. Under the new rules, B.C. hunters will get 6,140 and foreign hunters 1,410.

The government says the shift is worth at least $2.6 million to the province’s 245 licensed guide outfitters — serving an estimated 5,000 non-resident hunters — and will keep the industry viable. B.C. has about 102,000 resident hunters, up from 82,000 about 10 years ago, the province says.

lkines@timescolonist.com