Is trophy hunting ethical?

Is there a difference between hunting for meat and hunting for sport?

In British Columbia, except for a few species, it's against the law to hunt an animal without taking the meat home with you.

But a recent debate in BC over how many game animals are allotted to local hunters over out-of-province hunters inspired a BC Green Party MLA to propose a change to that law.

Grizzly bears aren't typically hunted for their meat, and are exempt from meat harvesting laws.
You can kill a grizzly, take its head and hide, and leave the rest to rot in the forest.
Green MLA Andrew Weaver has a bill to change that exemption, with the hopes it would end the grizzly trophy hunt.
 

95 percent of hunters are opposed to killing unless you eat it. And urban environmentalists are the same. They also support hunting by and large, but believe you should eat what you kill. So one of the key symbolic issues out there is the trophy hunting of grizzly bears by foreigners coming and leaving the carcass behind.- BC GREEN MLA ANDREW WEAVER

But Dan Brooks says there's more to trophy hunting than just pulling the trigger. Dan is the leader of the BC Conservative Party, and while he doesn't have a seat in the legislature, he does have hunting experience. He owns a guide outfitter in Vanderhoof, British Columbia. He says that he doesn't see much ethical difference in hunting for meat and hunting for sport, and the real trophy is the experience with loved ones, like when he and his 11-year old daughter brought down a moose.

Trophy hunting, and going out and hunting in general, you produce all sorts of wonderful memories with family and friends... I think that the value in hunting, and whether it's a trophy or not, is the experience in what you did to get there.- BC CONSERVATIVE LEADER DAN BROOKS