IronNoggin
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UnReal. 10 identified problem bears and the anti's start pulling their hair out!
A provincial program allowing private hunters to kill problem grizzlies has claimed 10 of the bears so far this year, with critics saying those numbers are confirming their worst fears.
Most of the animals were killed in Alberta’s southwest corner, due largely to the threat they posed to livestock, said Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen.
They occurred under a program announced in 2024 that grants private hunters authorization to kill grizzlies if they’re determined by wildlife officers to be habituated or to have killed livestock.
Provincial officials say the policy does not represent a resumption of the grizzly bear hunt that’s been banned for a decade.
Loewen said the shootings are a reflection of an unfortunate increase in human-grizzly conflict, specifically involving ranchers.
“There’s been an increase in incidents … it falls along the line of negative interaction (between) humans and grizzlies,” said the minister, adding the government’s wildlife management policy is “always based on science.”
By comparison, one grizzly was killed under the program in 2025, “but it didn’t come into place until partway through the year,” he said.
Sport hunting of grizzly bears ended in 2006 over concerns for the population’s sustainability, with the animal listed as a threatened species in 2010.
That designation sits at the middle of a scale, with endangered being the most urgent and vulnerable being the least.
In 2008, the province implemented a grizzly bear recovery plan, which seeks to restore habitat, reduce human-animal confrontation and bear mortality.
The province says the number of grizzlies in Alberta has grown from 800 in 2010 to more than 1,100, with counts tabulated by DNA analysis of hair from rub trees.
But a count of the animals hasn’t been done since 2018, though the province has commissioned a monitoring program in two of Alberta’s seven bear management areas in an effort to better gauge grizzly sustainability.
The province’s bear recovery plan calls for a count every five years.
‘I would call that a hunting season’
Critics of the problem bear policy say it lacks transparency and that its toll on the animals confirms their concerns that it makes it harder to control outcomes.
Former Alberta wildlife officer John Clarke said the number of grizzly kills so far this year is so high, it’s hard to believe, but said it would in effect amount to an end of the grizzly hunt moratorium.
“That’s a lot … I would call that a hunting season,” said Clarke, who now operates a bear safety consultancy in the Crowsnest Pass.
He’s previously said the policy makes it more likely for innocent bears or reproductively-vital females to be killed.
“I’d really want to know where that’s been (happening), whether they’re male or female,” said Clarke.
A conservation specialist called the number of grizzlies killed under the program alarming, saying her group has been kept in the dark about how it’s been unfolding.
“We had concerns it’d increase the number of bears being killed, that people would try to find the opportunity to kill bears that would not normally be euthanized,” said Ruiping Luo of the Alberta Wilderness Association.
“We’ve been trying to get information on the program and (government officials) said they’d get us that but they never did or a lot of it’s been redacted.”
She said it’s not clear the province is seriously considering other ways to approach the issue that avoids killing increasing numbers of grizzlies.
Critics have pointed to the government not employing designating animal conflict specialists, though its bear recovery program calls for them in each bruin management area.
One conservationist called the hunting program “absolutely obscene” given the province invests so little in addressing human-bear friction.
“We’ve got threatened species that’s suffered a number of insults and instead of Alberta solving the problem of problem people, they’re allowing the unintended encouragement for bear-human conflict,” said Jim Pissot of Defenders of Wildlife Canada.
But Loewen said those anti-conflict tasks are still being carried out by regular wildlife officers who engage with landowners on how best to reduce them.
And he defended the problem bear policy as consistent with euthanizations carried out by officers.
“There’s really no difference at all — it doesn’t matter to the science of the person who pulls the trigger,” said Loewen.
“It’s done in conjunction with a biologist.”
He said his government makes no apologies for a program meant to protect Albertans’ lives and their prosperity.
“When it comes to public safety and the safety of livelihoods, it’s always a concern to us — we take notice and we should.”
In 2024, Loewen’s ministry said it has provided $100,000 for a bear smart program to mitigate wildlife-human conflict, and has established the Waterton Biosphere — Carnivores and Communities program that helps ranchers reduce livestock loss.
Grizzlies killed under the program are hardly the only ones dying unnatural deaths in Alberta, according to government statistics.
In 2024, a total of 40 grizzlies were killed by human hand, the largest number of any reported year and includes poaching, official removal and vehicle collisions. Of the 21 killed during official removals that year, seven were females.
Last year, that reported grizzly mortality was 18.
https://calgaryherald.com/news/loca...ootings-under-provincial-program-sparks-alarm
Good on Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen for sticking to his guns!!
Surge in grizzly bear shootings under provincial program sparks alarm
Former Alberta wildlife officer John Clarke said the number of grizzly kills so far this year is so high, it's hard to believe, but said it would in effect amount to an end of the grizzly hunt moratorium.A provincial program allowing private hunters to kill problem grizzlies has claimed 10 of the bears so far this year, with critics saying those numbers are confirming their worst fears.
Most of the animals were killed in Alberta’s southwest corner, due largely to the threat they posed to livestock, said Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen.
They occurred under a program announced in 2024 that grants private hunters authorization to kill grizzlies if they’re determined by wildlife officers to be habituated or to have killed livestock.
Provincial officials say the policy does not represent a resumption of the grizzly bear hunt that’s been banned for a decade.
Loewen said the shootings are a reflection of an unfortunate increase in human-grizzly conflict, specifically involving ranchers.
“There’s been an increase in incidents … it falls along the line of negative interaction (between) humans and grizzlies,” said the minister, adding the government’s wildlife management policy is “always based on science.”
By comparison, one grizzly was killed under the program in 2025, “but it didn’t come into place until partway through the year,” he said.
Sport hunting of grizzly bears ended in 2006 over concerns for the population’s sustainability, with the animal listed as a threatened species in 2010.
That designation sits at the middle of a scale, with endangered being the most urgent and vulnerable being the least.
In 2008, the province implemented a grizzly bear recovery plan, which seeks to restore habitat, reduce human-animal confrontation and bear mortality.
The province says the number of grizzlies in Alberta has grown from 800 in 2010 to more than 1,100, with counts tabulated by DNA analysis of hair from rub trees.
But a count of the animals hasn’t been done since 2018, though the province has commissioned a monitoring program in two of Alberta’s seven bear management areas in an effort to better gauge grizzly sustainability.
The province’s bear recovery plan calls for a count every five years.
‘I would call that a hunting season’
Critics of the problem bear policy say it lacks transparency and that its toll on the animals confirms their concerns that it makes it harder to control outcomes.
Former Alberta wildlife officer John Clarke said the number of grizzly kills so far this year is so high, it’s hard to believe, but said it would in effect amount to an end of the grizzly hunt moratorium.
“That’s a lot … I would call that a hunting season,” said Clarke, who now operates a bear safety consultancy in the Crowsnest Pass.
He’s previously said the policy makes it more likely for innocent bears or reproductively-vital females to be killed.
“I’d really want to know where that’s been (happening), whether they’re male or female,” said Clarke.
A conservation specialist called the number of grizzlies killed under the program alarming, saying her group has been kept in the dark about how it’s been unfolding.
“We had concerns it’d increase the number of bears being killed, that people would try to find the opportunity to kill bears that would not normally be euthanized,” said Ruiping Luo of the Alberta Wilderness Association.
“We’ve been trying to get information on the program and (government officials) said they’d get us that but they never did or a lot of it’s been redacted.”
She said it’s not clear the province is seriously considering other ways to approach the issue that avoids killing increasing numbers of grizzlies.
Critics have pointed to the government not employing designating animal conflict specialists, though its bear recovery program calls for them in each bruin management area.
One conservationist called the hunting program “absolutely obscene” given the province invests so little in addressing human-bear friction.
“We’ve got threatened species that’s suffered a number of insults and instead of Alberta solving the problem of problem people, they’re allowing the unintended encouragement for bear-human conflict,” said Jim Pissot of Defenders of Wildlife Canada.
But Loewen said those anti-conflict tasks are still being carried out by regular wildlife officers who engage with landowners on how best to reduce them.
And he defended the problem bear policy as consistent with euthanizations carried out by officers.
“There’s really no difference at all — it doesn’t matter to the science of the person who pulls the trigger,” said Loewen.
“It’s done in conjunction with a biologist.”
He said his government makes no apologies for a program meant to protect Albertans’ lives and their prosperity.
“When it comes to public safety and the safety of livelihoods, it’s always a concern to us — we take notice and we should.”
In 2024, Loewen’s ministry said it has provided $100,000 for a bear smart program to mitigate wildlife-human conflict, and has established the Waterton Biosphere — Carnivores and Communities program that helps ranchers reduce livestock loss.
Grizzlies killed under the program are hardly the only ones dying unnatural deaths in Alberta, according to government statistics.
In 2024, a total of 40 grizzlies were killed by human hand, the largest number of any reported year and includes poaching, official removal and vehicle collisions. Of the 21 killed during official removals that year, seven were females.
Last year, that reported grizzly mortality was 18.
https://calgaryherald.com/news/loca...ootings-under-provincial-program-sparks-alarm
Good on Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen for sticking to his guns!!
