The province has launched a nuisance bear review three years after banning the spring bear hunt.
A recently appointed committee will review the biology, literature, and socio-economic factors relating to perceived bear problems.
Committee members will also look at the municipal impacts and compare the effects of bear harvesting from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
?I am very pleased that we have been able to put together a committee of this calibre to review all aspects of the nuisance bear issue in Ontario,? said Natural Resources Minister Jerry Ouellette.
?The committee will define the scope of its work, including consultation and input from across Ontario.?
To help alleviate nuisance bear problems a proposal to allow for the chasing of bears with dogs will be posted on the Environmental Bill of Rights registry. This proposed change would allow daytime pursuit, chase and search for bears but would not permit the capturing or killing of black bears.
A number of American states including Michigan, Maine, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin and Tennessee currently permit dogs to be used to chase bears.
The public is invited to comment to the ministry on the proposal.
The four-member committee studying the nuisance bear issue will be chaired by Ontario Northland Transportation Commission chair Royal Poulin. He is a former general manager of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs office in Sudbury.
A technical team from the Ministry of Natural Resources including Sudbury district area biologist Mike Hall will assist the committee. Detailed information on the study is available at www.mnr.gov.on.ca.
