BOW VALLEY – No grizzly bears have been killed so far under the province of Alberta’s controversial new program to allow targeted hunts of grizzly bears deemed to be a problem by the government.
During debate on the Wildlife Amendment Act on April 30 and May 5 and 7, Banff-Kananaskis MLA Sarah Elmeligi took issue with several of Alberta Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen’s wildlife management decisions over the last year, including allowing so-called problem bears to be hunted by a member of the public under the wildlife responder program.
“The minister has said it’s not a hunt, but it technically is,” said Elmeligi, a wildlife biologist who is the NDP Opposition Critic for Environment and Protected Areas.
“It’s just targeting who is the lucky person who gets to go out there on the landscape and hunt a grizzly bear.”
In June 2024, Loewen quietly altered the wildlife regulations without public consultation, authorizing the killing of grizzly bears “involved in a human-bear conflict situation” or “in an area of concern” by a member of the public who meets certain criteria.
In response to Elmeligi, Loewen said this does not mean an open season on grizzly bears and it does not allow people to hunt grizzly bears.
“This policy follows the same guidelines as exist for Fish and Wildlife officers when it comes to destroying a problem bear, so it can’t add to any more destruction that’s already happening on the landscape now,” he said.
Loewen said this is a separate policy that deals with conflict bears; “bears that pose a real danger to people or livestock.”
“In rare cases when a bear is aggressive or causing serious problems, a trained Albertan may be called in as a last resort to deal with that specific animal. That is not a hunt. That is not a sport. It’s about protecting people and property,” he said.
“For the record, this policy has been in place for nearly a year, and not a single grizzly bear has been harvested yet.”
The grizzly bear hunt was suspended in 2006 after the grizzly population in Alberta dwindled to fewer than 700 bears on provincial lands in 2004. Grizzly bears are listed as a threatened species in Alberta.
Grizzly populations have since been recovering in some areas, but human-caused mortality remains the leading cause of grizzly bear death.
Loewen has previously stated there are about 1,250 grizzly bears in Alberta, but the most up-to-date publicly available estimates from 2021 show the grizzly bear population is between 865 and 973 individuals.
He has continually pointed to an increasing grizzly bear population as the reason for the changes he approved. While there has been growth in some regions, Alberta’s grizzly population is not currently monitored.
The latest data from the province’s seven bear management areas (BMAs) are six to 10 years old, despite a recommendation in the grizzly bear recovery plan for surveys to be done every five years.
“Over the last year I’ve heard the minister shout out random numbers about the number of grizzly bears there are in Alberta, and none of those numbers match the actual recovery plan, which is the most recent data that we have on population estimates of bears,” said Elmeligi.
Andrea Morehouse, a wildlife researcher who has been studying grizzly bears since 2011 and working with rural communities on carnivore conflict issues since 2007, said Loewen’s wildlife responder plan is not science-based.
She said what does work is electric fencing, bear spray, attractant management, acoustic and visual deterrents, livestock guardian dogs, education and outreach and working with communities to think outside the box and work collaboratively.
“There are a number of other, science-based approaches to managing human-bear conflict including the use of bear spray and attractant management efforts such as electric fencing,” she said, noting the best way to avoid conflict is prevention.
“Further, for wildlife coexistence measures to be successful, the community must be consulted and meaningfully engaged – that did not happen.”
Morehouse was involved in conducting the population estimate for BMA 6 in 2013-14 and was involved on the analysis of data for BMA 5.
“We have a science-based grizzly bear recovery plan that should act as the guiding document for bear management in the province; that is the document that should be driving Alberta’s grizzly bear management decisions.”
Elmeligi also said research shows hunting bears does not reduce conflict.
“All it does is create an opportunity for another bear to come in and engage in that same source of conflict,” she said.
“What reduces human-bear conflict is working with people to reduce attractants and to reduce the sources of conflict. The research is very clear there.”
Elmeligi said objectives in the grizzly bear recovery plan include that density in recovery zones is not limited by human-caused mortality, populations are either stable or increasing, and there is a population size range that is reflective of the habitat within the recovery zone.
She said there are also objectives for the ability of grizzly bears to disperse across habitats and for habitat security of grizzly bears in the recovery zone to be maintained or improved.
“Increasing hunting or increasing the opportunity for Albertans to kill grizzly bears is not an objective of the grizzly bear recovery plan,” she said.
“They do talk about conflict, but none of those things are killing bears to address conflict because it doesn’t actually work. The science is quite clear in this.”
To be eligible for killing a so-called problem grizzly, a person must be an adult resident of Alberta and hold or obtain a recreational hunting licence. Individuals must apply to the minister to be included in the pool and the minister can then issue permission to hunt a grizzly bear if a wildlife officer has given appropriate authorization.
If selected to kill an animal, they must be on-site within 24 hours of notification to obtain the authorization, which must also include the geographic area where hunting is permitted, the time at which it is allowed, and method and equipment allowed or prohibited. The way it works is the first person on the responder list in the relevant region will be contacted. If they are unavailable, the next person will be contacted, and so on.
During the debate in the Legislature on April 30, the NDP’s Edmonton-McClung MLA Lorne Dach said he had concerns because there is no real definition of what a problem or conflict bear might be.
“With respect to grizzly bears he’s putting a target on their backs,” he said.
Dach said there are already measures in place to take steps to provide for the safety of people who are in contact with grizzly bears that might provide a danger or risk to their family and/or domesticated animals on their properties.
“Certainly, when a bear, a grizzly bear, in fact, gets into a property, kills animals, or perhaps scares the daylights out of human beings, that is cause for concern, but wildlife management has been able to go in and manage these bears, either trapping, live trapping, or in some cases destroying an animal that is causing potential human conflict, without decimating the population of these bears and also by way of actually determining there has been a conflict, making sure the right bear was exterminated or removed to a place far away from human contact,” he said.
