Re: “Thousands protest B.C. move to allow more foreign hunting,” Jan. 28.
B.C.’s new Wildlife Allocation Policy should be rescinded. It favours foreign (mostly trophy) hunters over resident hunters, most of whom hunt for meat to feed their families.
For a resident hunter, many species fall under the limited-hunting permit system under which one applies for a permit and waits for his application to be drawn. This can be frustrating when one applies year after year and the application is never drawn.
It took 27 years of applying every year before my Vancouver Island elk permit was drawn in 2013. I started applying when I was 54 and got my elk permit at 81. A foreign hunter doesn’t have to apply, as he can use his guide’s allocation.
Under the new allocation policy, resident hunters will lose 13 limited hunting permits to harvest elk, so the odds of drawing a permit will be even less. Those 13 permits will go to the guides.
Even before the new allocation policy, B.C. guide outfitters were getting a larger percentage of available permits for all species than anywhere else in Canada and the U.S. Now they want more at the expense of B.C. hunters.
The issue here is: should foreign trophy hunters be favoured over B.C. residents? If you think that they shouldn’t, then let the B.C. government know, or go to the B.C. Wildlife Federation website and sign the wildlife allocation petition.
Ed Mankelow
Former president, B.C. Wildlife Federation
Chemainus
