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In the two years since the province banned grizzly bear hunting, at least 13 bears have been illegally killed, Postmedia News has learned.

“Since the grizzly bear hunt was closed, there have been 13 reports of illegally killed grizzly bears,” said a spokesperson for the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development who wouldn’t give their name.

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“Illegal kills include poaching, self-defence without reporting the incident or a found grizzly bear where the use of a firearm is considered the cause of death,” the spokesperson said in an email.

B.C. banned the hunt in December 2017, with Minister Doug Donaldson saying British Columbians told the province that “the grizzly hunt is not in line with their values.”

The ban was first proposed against trophy hunting of grizzlies and any hunting in the Great Bear Rainforest but it was extended to include hunting the bears for sustenance anywhere in the province after consulting with First Nations, stakeholder groups and the public, and finding 78 per cent called for an outright ban, the province said at the time.