The BC Government is putting an end to all Grizzly bear hunting in the province.

The move comes after consultation with thousands of First Nations and other stakeholders. Over 4,000 emails were received on the topic.

The province had made the move to ban Grizzly Bear trophy hunting back in the summer and promised a consultation period to further make changes.

A release from the government gave a summary of Feedback – The issues raised, in descending order of frequency, included:

* Hunt is no longer appropriate

* Too many loopholes in the proposed regulations

* Wasteful to leave anything behind after an animal is killed

* Lack of significance of the meat hunt for grizzly bears

* Economics of grizzly bear hunting

* Hunting as a management tool

* Population dynamics of grizzly bear

* Need to focus on habitat management of grizzly bear

* Urban/rural split around grizzly bear hunting

* Hunting by First Nations

* Lack of enforcement

* Trophy terminology

First Nations will still be able to harvest grizzly bears pursuant to Aboriginal rights for food, social, or ceremonial purposes, or treaty rights.

The spring grizzly bear hunt was scheduled to open on April 1, 2018, but the ban on hunting for resident and non-resident hunters takes effect immediately according to the province.