For submission to the Yukon Fish and Wildlife Management Board for the Proposed Regulation Change
Cycle 2014 - November 28, 2014
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this proposed regulation change.
The Alsek Renew able Resource Council has discussed this, and acknowledges that though there are
mixed feelings for this proposal, in essence, we support the Roadside Ban for Grizzly Bear during the
spring hunt.
What we heard:
-some community members were concerned that by allowing a ban on hunting of any species could be a
precursor to allowing other bans based on feelings/ ethics rather than based on science or population.
That this is being done to appease certain interest groups.
-that hunting opportunities for meat should never be subject to a ban and those opportunities for food
sources remain intact. This is referring to other species ie. black bear, but is brought forward by the
concern that bans could be placed on non-scientific reasons.
-that along with unplanned land applications and development in the Champagne Aishihik traditional
territory this is in essence another regulation that limits hunting opportunities.
-the highways chosen for this are high tourism traffic areas. People from all over the world drive along
this route and there is a certain visual aesthetic that we believe Yukon government would like to
preserve. Bear sighting along the highway is a part of that.
-that as a result of tourism and the love of animal watching, we have helped to create this issue. It has
been discussed that though we enjoy watching bears along the highway, stopping to look and take
pictures, they are aware of our presence. That they become less and less wary and careful of humans,
and this is not fair to them as well.
The bears that have been shot along the highway in recent years, were in just that position. People
spending time watching them, the bears possibly becoming more comfortable with this interaction,
feeling “safe” about it and not retreating into more hidden areas. It was mentioned that to kill a bear
after the bear becomes used to human presence as a result of people watching it, runs counter to the
idea of fair chase.
-some community members were surprised that hunting along the roadside was allowed at all. Many
weren’t even aware of this.
-there have been very few bears shot in these proposed areas. This was expressed in 2 ways. Why are
they doing this? and Why not do this?
We were all able to agree that educating the public needs to be paramount for this regulation to be
effective and accepted. This includes tourists, and the travelling public. We all have seen incidences of
people stopping to take pictures and worse yet, getting out of their vehicles to “get a better view”,
people driving and stopping erratically causing near misses on the highway, making noises, yelling at an
animal to get its attention. This is often on the edge of harassment. And as we are seeing, there are
consequences for these actions, and very little enforcement.
Though we support this regulation change in its essence, we are aware that it is another limiting action
towards Yukonners. Perhaps the Yukon Fish and Wildlife Management Board could consider this a
temporary measure and revisit this after a period of time (2-3 years) to see if the results of this ban have
indeed created any changes, and measure the effectiveness of an educational component that needs to
occur concurrently.
In the end there is no doubt that Grizzly Bears are very important parts of our ecosystem