A few days ago, a horrific attack occurred in British Columbia. A group of school children was on a hike with their teachers when they stopped for a quick lunch. It was during that lunch that a grizzly bear emerged from the treeline and attacked the group, leaving several injured. This recent grizzly attack on children has made people begin urging the B.C. government to reopen grizzly hunts.
Recent Grizzly Attack On School Children
Getty Images
On November 20, a group of nine-year-olds was simply enjoying their lunch when a grizzly bear appeared. The grizzly bear attacked the children, resulting in three of them being hospitalized, along with one of the adults. It took two cans of bear spray, one of the teachers jumping on the bear, and another hitting it with their crutches to get the animal to retreat. Officials are unsure of what provoked the attack. It is atypical for grizzly bears to attack people at all, even more so when it is a large group of people. Officials are still on the hunt for the bear and its two cubs as they desperately search for answers. However, as they are searching for answers, the public has begun demanding something else — a reopening of the once popular grizzly hunts.
Public Calls For Government To Reopen Grizzly Hunts
As search crews continue to look for the bear and two cubs, they have urged people to stay indoors. While grizzly attacks on humans are statistically rare, Outdoor Life shares that they have doubled since the ban on grizzly bear hunting back in 2017. Due to that fact, and the recent horrifying attack, many people are in favor of reinstating the grizzly hunts. B.C. Wildlife Federation executive director Jesse Zeman spoke on the matter. "With no hunting pressure, grizzlies and humans will increasingly occupy the same spaces," he said. Occupying the same spaces will lead to "inevitable consequences." He summarized with this haunting statement, "This will keep getting worse until science-based wildlife management is reinstated."
While many are inclined to agree with Zeman's perspective, animal advocacy groups do not. Grizzly Bear Foundation executive director Nicholas Scapillati spoke to CBS News about the issue. He stated, "You can't use hunting as a management tool and expect it will reduce attacks."
