In British Columbia’s Central Coast, an incident involving a school group has reignited discussions regarding the ban on hunting grizzly bears in the province. Grizzly bear hunting was prohibited in B.C. at the close of 2017, except for hunting by First Nations for specific purposes such as food, social, and ceremonial use. The decision to halt the practice, which had attracted trophy hunters, followed public consultations that revealed the hunt did not align with the values of British Columbia residents.
Recently, the B.C. Wildlife Federation (BCWF) highlighted a significant increase in reports of conflicts between grizzlies and humans eight years after the ban was implemented. Jesse Zeman, the executive director of the non-profit organization, emphasized that without hunting pressure, encounters between grizzlies and humans are escalating, leading to inevitable consequences.
The BCWF’s statement came following a grizzly bear attack on students in Bella Coola, B.C., resulting in two individuals sustaining critical injuries and two others seriously harmed, as confirmed by emergency authorities. Inspector Kevin Van Damme of the B.C. Conservation Officer Service (BCCOS) described such attacks as exceedingly uncommon.
The executive director of the Grizzly Bear Foundation, a charity focused on grizzly bear well-being, criticized the BCWF for using “inflammatory” language post the attack. He emphasized the rarity of such incidents, highlighting the crucial role grizzlies play as a keystone species in the ecosystem.
B.C. Environment Minister Tamara Davidson mentioned ongoing efforts by the RCMP and BCCOS to locate the bear responsible for the attack. When queried about the possibility of lifting the ban on grizzly bear hunting, she indicated that there were no plans to do so at present.
Before the ban, the province issued 250 grizzly hunting licenses annually, coinciding with an estimated grizzly bear population of 15,000 at that time. According to the BCWF, in the decade leading up to the 2017 ban, the BCCOS received 300 to 500 calls each year regarding grizzly conflicts. Post-ban, this figure has surged to 1,000 calls annually, as per their claims.
Data from the Ministry of Environment’s Report All Poachers and Polluters (RAPP) line displayed an average of 758 grizzly-related calls received per year since the ban, excluding partial data from 2025. Notably, the average number of yearly grizzly bear attacks has remained relatively stable.
Nicholas Scapillati, the executive director of the Grizzly Bear Foundation, noted fluctuations in the number of calls related to human-grizzly conflicts and attributed the rise to the BCCOS establishing a toll-free tip line in recent years. He stressed that an increase in calls does not necessarily signify a corresponding rise in conflicts.
Furthermore, he underlined the broad definition of a “conflict,” which can encompass incidents like bears breaking into bird feeders or freezers. Scapillati echoed Van Damme’s assertion that occurrences akin to the Bella Coola attack are exceedingly rare.
In a separate incident in Alberta, the Minister of Forestry and Parks hinted at considering various options, including potentially lifting the ban on hunting grizzly bears, following a grizzly bear mauling in Cochrane. Despite Alberta’s ban on hunting grizzly bears since 2006, a Wildlife Management Responder Network was introduced to permit the hunting of problematic grizzlies, involving a pool of qualified hunters.
The recent Bella Coola attack joins a string of human encounters with grizzly bears in British Columbia, including incidents in Prince George, the East Kootenay region, and West Creston. Community members have expressed observations of increasingly assertive bear behavior in locations like Creston, prompting calls for engaging rural B.C. residents to understand the evolving landscape.
Advocates like Scapillati advocate for maintaining the ban, citing historical correlations between attacks and hunting activities. He emphasized the importance of grizzly bear tourism as an economic driver, highlighting the pivotal role these animals play as a keystone species in preserving ecosystems.