California & Banning "Sport Hunting" of Black Bears

​worldanimalnews.com/urgent-action-needed-to-support-newly-introduced-bill-that-would-ban-sport-hunting-of-black-bears-in-california/

Democratic Senator Scott Wiener introduced the "Bear Protection Act", a bill that would effectively ban the sport hunting of black bears throughout California. The bill is sponsored by the Humane Society of the United States and supported by 62% of Californians surveyed who would like to see black bears protected from sport hunting.

The California Department of Fish & Wildlife currently permits 1,700 black bears to be slaughtered in a single season. While black bear populations have slowly rejuvenated, they are nowhere near the historically 2 million black bears that once roamed the wooded areas of North America. In fact, factors like climate change and habitat loss have helped to dwindle the black bear populations, and sport hunting is obviously contributing to that decline. Remember, at one point in our history, there were millions and millions of every animal that is now facing extinction, and we have pushed them to that point.

If the bill passes, it will effectively end the "sport" hunting of black bears throughout the state but would still allow slaughter of black bears if;

• there is a livestock conflict or human safety concern
• there is an endangered species at risk
• there is potential risk of property damage
• for scientific purposes

California has currently banned the use of hounds for hunting of bears and bobcats, the hunting of mountain lions and bobcats, and recreational trapping of wildlife. If they pass this bill to ban the sport hunting of black bears, they will be the first state in the nation to do so, once again setting the bar high for other states and their animal welfare laws. 

As I mentioned earlier in this post, there were millions and millions of every single species that is now facing extinction. Millions of elephants, lions, jaguars, snow leopards etc., and humans have contributed to all of their perils leading to endangerment. You see, while there may be a plentiful amount of black bears now, if we don't address the perils they are quite obviously facing, their numbers will undoubtedly drop. History has shown us what our actions have done to animal populations across the globe, can we truly be so naïve to think that black bears are any kind of exception? Do we honestly believe that our actions will not catch up to us at some point and black bears will suddenly disappear?

We have to stop permitting the hunting of wild animals for sport. Regardless of the species and how plentiful their populations are, if we're running around shooting and killing them at will while they continue to face habitat loss due to wildfires, how long do we expect that their population will remain healthy? We have to stop contributing to the perils wild animals face in the wild when they are already up against unprecedented challenges. As I said, every single animal on our planet was at one point plentiful until we pushed them to near extinction.

This bill must pass. Black bears contribute to a healthy ecosystem and if we continue to slaughter them for sport, we are manipulating an ecosystem that will have adverse effects on the remaining wildlife. We know this, we've seen what we've done to Africa's wild animals. Enough is enough here folks, stop the killing for sport and funnel some of that energy and aggression into protecting our planet's most vulnerable before they disappear forever.

HAPPY VEG