Temporary Hunt Restriction Needs to be Extended
The future for Alberta’s grizzly bears, designated as threatened in 2010, remains uncertain while the threat of a continued spring hunt hangs over them. Alberta’s grizzly hunt was halted for three years in 2006, and since then has been suspended on a year-by-year basis. Every spring Albertans await with bated breath to find out whether the provincial government will OK the hunt once again; no decision has yet been announced for 2011.
Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA) is calling for the hunt suspension to be extended: a five-year moratorium at the very minimum.
“The fact that Alberta even considers hunting its endangered species each year is startling,” says Nigel Douglas, AWA conservation specialist. “Even if the bears get a reprieve this year, it is frustrating to know that this ‘Will they? Won’t they?’ game is going to be played out next year and the year after and the year after that.”
Even without the hunt, grizzlies in Alberta continue to die at an unsustainable rate. Though grizzly bears were listed as threatened in June 2010, an estimated 29 grizzlies died last year in Alberta, approximately 4.2 percent of the population. This level of mortality is much higher than the 2.8 percent mortality rate suggested as “sustainable” in the Alberta government’s own 2010 report, Status of the Alberta Grizzly Bear in Alberta.
“Grizzly bear mortality is already at unsustainably high levels, even without a hunt,” says Douglas. “Why the province would even consider allowing any more grizzlies to be killed is hard to fathom. The situation for Alberta’s grizzlies is so dire at the moment that they need much more certainty than an annual stay of execution.”
AWA acknowledges that the grizzly bear hunt was not the cause of the troubles for Alberta’s grizzlies, and suspending the hunt was never going to be a magical ‘fix’. “We’ve known for years in Alberta that motorized vehicle access is the underlying cause of the problem for grizzlies, and reducing access is the only thing that will allow them to recover. But in the meantime, suspending the hunt is an obvious first step to remove one avoidable source of mortality.”
For more information:
Nigel Douglas, AWA Conservation Specialist: (403) 283-2025