Vancouver Sun letters to the editor for Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019
Credit to Author: Gordon Clark| Date: Sat, 17 Aug 2019 01:00:47 +0000
Op-ed writer Sylvia Dolson claims the B.C. Conservation Service isn’t managing bears how “the majority of people want our bears to be managed.” It’s hard to know what the majority of the general public wants but, even if we did, we would need to question the relevance of such an opinion since the majority of the general public, especially people living in major cities, will never encounter a bear walking around in their neighbourhood.
When my children were going to elementary school in North Vancouver, a sow and her cubs were seen entering the woods by their school playground. Bears have also been sighted on pathways that my grandson takes to walk to school in Port Moody. Bears have millions of hectares of viable habitat in B.C. Why should they be able to roam freely in built-up suburban areas and endanger the safety of essentially defenceless children?
Dolson says: “It is far cheaper and quicker to shoot a bear and dispose of the carcass at the landfill.” My response to this observation is that it is exactly correct, which is why shooting and killing bears roaming in suburban areas is such a good idea. Surely we have more important uses for our resources than waste them on molly-coddling bears that encroach upon our suburban environment.
Jim Cripps, North Vancouver
I want to thank you for publishing Sylvia Dolson’s article. The killing of mother bears and their cubs is wrong.
We destroy their habitat due to out-of-control development and kill the mother bear for searching for food for her cubs. Would you kill a mother for trying to feed her children? Conservation officers would rather shoot to kill than tranquillize and relocate. It’s shameful.
The cruel killing of mother bears and their cubs has to stop.
I am a senior who worked until she was 66 and still resides in a three-bedroom home. My parents, at age 92, still live in their three-bedroom home in North Vancouver. Why? Show me something that I might want to move into.
Townhouses with three or more flights of stairs? Downright dangerous. The ubiquitous 500-square-foot studio apartment? How do friends and family come to stay? What about in-home help? Elevator breakdowns?
Any residence that is comparable to what I or my parents have would require all our capital and high monthly fees. All three of us think aging in place is good. Alienating, inflexible glass coffins in the sky is not the way to make downsizing affordable or desirable.
Heather Fayers, Delta
For many years, reading Alyn Edwards’ column in the Driving section was a much-anticipated reading pleasure. His stories were entertaining, full of humour, well researched and thoroughly enjoyed by vintage vehicle enthusiasts.
I am disappointed to learn that his column will now appear only once every two weeks. What a blow to all who have followed Alyn’s great stories and gleaned so much from his store of knowledge in the world of vintage vehicles. Fridays will never be the same for me.
Natalie Speckmaier, Vancouver
Before the Trudeau government tries to pass any law punishing law-abiding gun owners, they should consider passing the toughest gun laws in the world first, where a life sentence puts convicted people in prison forever, with no chance of parole, if they use any type of firearm while committing any crime.
If this action does not stop or reduce firearm use in the commission of crimes in Canada, nothing will.
Robert Moskal, Winnipeg
It’s a cold thing to say, but if the southern residents orcas starve, it is just evolution doing what evolution does. If chinook salmon are scarce and the whales don’t learn to hunt abundant seals, as other orcas do, they are not adaptable and not fit for the environment they find themselves in.
The lesson for humans is that if our surroundings change and we don’t adapt, we too will not last.
Gail Neff Bell, Delta
Letters to the editor should be sent to sunletters@vancouversun.com. The editorial pages editor is Gordon Clark, who can be reached at gclark@postmedia.com.
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