Bear Referendum Road Tour '96
Hunters pose with trophy black bears. Photo: Animal Alliance of Canada files.
"Anthony Marr is on almost every hunter's hit list for trying to get trophy hunting of Black and Grizzly bears banned in B.C..." Vancouver Sun, August 2, 1996, page B4.
"They are organized and hostile (the hunting lobby), and when they show up, it's ten to one - hunters to environmentalists..." Georgia Straight, August 1-8, 1996, page 7.
"It was barely civil and sometimes downright ugly... Anthony Marr was interrupted, shouted down and generally abused by hunters in an audience of more than 100 that spilled out of a conference room..." Prince George Citizen, July 5, 1996, page A1.
"With calm and respect, Anthony Marr faced rapid fire questioning from hunters..." Kamloops Daily News, July 9, 1996, page A3.
These are just a few of the many highlights in the more than 100 newspaper articles generated during the eight-week-long province-wide road tour by Anthony Marr this summer. The purpose: to educate people about endangered animals especially the BET'R species (Bear, Elephant, Tiger and Rhinos) as well as explain the Initiative to prohibit the sport and trophy hunting of bears in British Columbia to prevent B.C. bears from becoming endangered and imperiled with extinction.
Despite the many stormy meetings, Marr returned to Vancouver in good spirits. One big reason was the great care and support provided by environmentalists along his 12,000 kilometers journey. Marr never had to camp out alone or stay at motels even once. Many of those who billeted him and attended his presentations generously donated funds, food and even long-distance phone calls to the project, as well as took him on hiking, kayaking, 4-wheeling, bear watching and even horseback riding expeditions.
Marr wholeheartedly thanks everyone involved for making this tour a fruitful and enjoyable one and invites everyone he contacted and their friends to actively participate in Initiative I96001 to bring about an end to the sport and trophy hunting of bears in B.C. and greatly increase the penalties for poaching and trafficking.
He also thanks Bonita Charette and Lisa Moffatt, bear referendum campaigners, and the staff at WCWC for their very capable assistance in making this road tour a success. By the end of August, nearly 1,000 volunteer canvassers had applied to collect signatures on the Bear Protection petition.
