Singer Miley Cyrus is lending her celebrity to another animal welfare campaign in B.C., this time focused on protecting the province's grizzly population.
Cyrus and conservation group Pacific Wild are lobbying the government to close what critics have labelled a "loophole" in its pending trophy hunting ban, which lets hunters keep killing grizzlies if they claim it's for food.
The pop star is also featured in a video for the #SaveBCBears campaign, where she sings a slowed-down verse from the children's song "Teddy Bear Picnic" over footage of B.C. forests.
"If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise," she sings. "If you go down to the woods today, you better go in disguise."
The NDP's trophy hunting ban is scheduled to take effect at the end of November, and will put an end to all grizzly hunting in the Great Bear Rainforest.
But critics have pointed out that hunters will be allowed to continue killing grizzlies elsewhere as long as they remove some of the animal's meat. Pacific Wild executive director Ian McAllister said grizzlies are not a "necessary or ethical food source," and hunting them should be banned outright.
"We’re hoping this campaign will prompt the government to close this loophole and help the government hear the opinion of over 90 per cent of British Columbians who wish to see a total and complete end to this barbaric hunt," McAllister said in a statement.
There are an estimated 15,000 grizzly bears in B.C., and about 250 are killed by hunters annually. Pacific Wild said 300 were killed in 2016.
The last time Cyrus paired up with the conservation group was 2015, when she criticized the provincial government's controversial wolf cull. She even joined members of Pacific Wild in northern B.C. for a boat tour.
