Wildlife groups, NDP critic fire back at province for allowing grizzly bear hunting

By Scott Hayes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The provincial government is getting blasted by wildlife groups and an Alberta NDP critic for allowing targeted hunts on a threatened species.

Alberta’s forestry and parks ministry quietly made regulation amendments last month allowing “problem” grizzly bears to be in the crosshairs of hunters as a management tool and as a safety mechanism. 

The province’s statement (as published on July 9 on the province’snews page) indicates that there have been “significantly more reports than usual of problematic – and dangerous – grizzly-human and grizzly-animal interactions as well agricultural losses due to elk foraging.”

Taking care to ensure people did not consider this change to signal the start of a bear hunt, Minister Todd Loewen said that this is only a measure to ensure the safety of humans and livestock.

“The loss of even one human life because of a grizzly bear attack is one too many,” he said in a media release. “We are taking a proactive approach to help Albertans co-exist with wildlife through our new wildlife management program. These changes demonstrate our commitment to ensuring Albertans can safely work and recreate throughout the province.”

Grizzly bear hunting was banned in Alberta since 2006. At that time, the entire population was approximately 700 individuals. The province’s statement indicates that there are now more than 1,150 grizzlies.

That figure is much higher than what was reported in the province’sAddendum to the Alberta Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan, published in February 2021. Figures tabulated in that document speculate that the total population is somewhere between 856 and 973 individuals.

Grizzly bears are still considered a species at risk within Alberta and have been formally designated as a Threatened species in 2010 under Alberta’s Wildlife Act.

The Ministerial Order dictating the changes to the Wildlife Act indicate that hunting a grizzly bear is authorized if it is not accompanied by a cub and if a wildlife officer has determined that the grizzly is either involved in a human-wildlife conflict situation or is in an area of concern.

Hunting any animal is still prohibited in all national parks, including Jasper National Park.

“The Alberta government’s news release [on July 9] states that ‘This is not a bear hunt,’ but the Ministerial Order tells a different story,” said Devon Earl, conservation specialist with the Alberta Wildlife Association (AWA), in an email to the Fitzhugh.

The AWA’s newsletter expresses concern that the Wildlife Regulation was altered without public consultation or legislative review by Minister Loewen. It was simply published in the Alberta Gazette on a Friday.

It also expresses the environmental conservation organization’s dismay that the Ministerial Order doesn’t clearly define what “areas of concern” means.

“We fear that the term could apply to anywhere bears and people overlap,” said Earl.

Sarah Elmeligi, Alberta NDP critic for environment, sports and tourism, questioned the notion that killing grizzly bears reduces instances of human-bear conflict.

“It does not solve the problem. We know from scientific research that the best way to reduce conflict is to work with people to better co-exist with grizzly bears,” said Elmeligi, who has been a bear biologist for nearly two decades, in a media release.

“Human use management on the landscape like the livestock compensation program, subsidies for electric fencing, attractant management on public and private land, and better education, are the things that actually reduce conflict. These programs should be amplified across the province to reduce conflict at its source,” she continued.

Further to that, she referred to the Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan, published in July 2020, that shows that only 10 grizzly bears were euthanized for management action between 2010 and 2015.

“The Minister is scaring Albertans into believing that grizzly attacks are commonplace and that the only way to solve the problem is to kill bears. This is just outright false. Killing bears doesn’t reduce conflict, it reduces populations. How can that be acceptable when at the same time we are committed to recovering the population?” Elmeligi said.

The province’s news release says that there were 120 head of livestock killed by black and grizzly bears from 2023 and now. Losses amounted to $153,649 as approved for compensation under the Wildlife Predator Compensation Program.

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) Northern and Southern Alberta chapters gave a statement of concerns and comments to theFitzhugh. Its first concern: hunting any species at risk is inappropriate.

The statement also notes that not only are grizzly bears a threatened species in Alberta, they are also essential to a healthy, functioning environment.

“Their large home ranges make grizzlies an ‘umbrella’ species for land-use planning and management: Managing the landscape for grizzly bear populations also provides habitat for many other species, helps maintain healthy aquatic ecosystems and fisheries, and protects clean and abundant supplies of water for downstream communities (human and wildlife),” it reads.

“While their populations have stabilized and, in some regions, even increased, they have not ‘recovered.’ This is in part because theAlberta Bear Recovery Plan has not defined what recovery means.”

CPAWS also highlighted how the change to the Wildlife Act is vague with unclear requirements both for how bears are to be labeled as “problematic” and how regions will be defined as ‘areas of concern’. There is also a lack of clarity on how the process will occur, leaving opportunity for error.

Instead, CPAWS stated that the desired co-existence can be accomplished through various tools as outlined in theAlberta Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan. These include attractant management (such as fruit trees) in municipalities, public education, subsidy programs for predation losses, habitat protections, and research and monitoring programs.

“Furthermore, the 2010 recovery plan speaks to the need to hire more grizzly bear recovery and conflict management staff across Bear Management Areas (BMAs). Alberta currently does not have a single human-bear conflict specialist after the previous specialist retired several years ago,” the statement reads.

“Ultimately, the most important step that should be taken to achieve grizzly bear recovery and manage human-bear conflict is prioritizing the conservation, restoration, and management of grizzly bear habitat – a step that has been sorely overlooked,” the statement continued.

“Nothing in the amendments made address this critical step, and we are deeply disappointed at the Ministry’s chosen direction.”

The NDP critic confirmed that educated personnel are vital to managing grizzly populations as they continue to thrive.

“As a bear biologist myself, it is clear to me that this decision by the UCP government is not informed by science or scientific data. The approach of shooting your way out of wildlife management challenges is archaic and needless,” Elmeligi said.

“There was also no formal consultation with the Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan team, wildlife biologists, Indigenous groups or the general public on ending an 18-year moratorium to allow trophy hunters to shoot grizzly bears. Is it a coincidence that Minister Loewen has a financial interest in a hunting guide outfitting company?” she said.

The Fitzhugh reached out to the Ministry of Forestry and Parks for a response to these concerns. The Ministry did not respond before press time.