1 grizzly bear has been killed through Alberta’s new hunting program, province says

More than a year after the Alberta government announced the creation of a network of hunters to shoot “problem” grizzlies, the province says one bear has been killed.

“To date, four grizzly responders have been called out to address grizzly conflicts, with only one grizzly bear being lethally removed,” said Ministry of Forestry and Parks press secretary Michael Plenits in a statement.

Plenits and other provincial spokespeople did not confirm when and where the grizzly was killed.

“In all four cases, grizzly bears were responsible for killing livestock,” Plenits said.

The hunting of grizzly bears in Alberta has been banned since 2006. That remains the case, save for select cases through the province’s Wildlife Management Responder Network program, which came into effect through a ministerial order in June 2024.

The province’s pool of “grizzly responders” consists of qualified hunters who applied and were selected for the program. When a situation arises where the province deems it appropriate for a grizzly bear to be killed, those hunters may be called upon.

The province has said the program is not considered a bear hunt, though the program also states that after tracking and shooting a grizzly, the responder can keep the bear’s meat, hide and all other parts of the animal, except for its gallbladder. 

Retired Alberta Fish and Wildlife officer John Clarke was involved in the province’s wildlife management programs throughout his career. He said being bear aware is at the root of avoiding human-grizzly conflict in rural Alberta, and that trying to keep bears from being attracted to populated areas would go a long way toward not needing to kill them.

“Instead of just killing bear after bear after bear, you want to stop the problems,” he said.

He pointed to the government’s investment in financial support to keep bears off farms. That includes installing electric fences, upgrading grain storage units, and removing dead livestock. 

Clarke said the province authorizing members of the public to shoot “problem” grizzlies rather than having Fish and Wildlife officers do it is “probably a little bit of bear management, a little bit of politics — things like that.”

He pointed out that regardless of the province’s authorization of this program last year, Alberta Fish and Wildlife “euthanizes quite a few bears, grizzly bears during the season.”

“Instead of them killing it, they’re calling in a hunter to come and shoot it … giving the opportunity to a resident to harvest that animal,” Clarke said.

One of Clarke’s biggest concerns is the potential for the wrong bear to be killed, meaning hunters must be diligent when confirming that the bear in their crosshairs is in fact the one they’re authorized to shoot.

In an interview with CBC News, Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen said while he considers the province’s grizzly bear recovery program a success so far, the province is still “concerned about the negative grizzly-human interaction that’s been happening,” which is what the Wildlife Management Responder Network is meant to address.

“We’re definitely seeing an increased distribution of grizzly bears across the province and an increased density, too,” Loewen said.

In a release last year, the province said Alberta’s grizzly bear population had “increased from approximately 800 to more than 1,150 now, causing them to move into more populated areas.”

“We hear lots of reports of these negative interactions with grizzlies … and there has been a lot of livestock killed by grizzlies,” Loewen said. 

Mountain View Bear Smart, an organization that tracks encounters with bears and other large carnivores in central Alberta, lists numerous instances of landowners having their animals attacked by grizzly bears. Most recently, a grizzly killed a goat on Oct. 16.

Grizzly goes after beehives in Bearberry, Alta.

“We don’t want to have people losing their livelihoods from these kind of negative interactions,” Loewen said.

The province’s recovery plan includes grizzly habitat restoration in places like Kananaskis Country and other bear management areas, as well as raising awareness on proper co-existence with bears through education programs like Bear Smart.