Beware of MLAs sleeping

Alberta Wilderness Association
Defending Wild Alberta through Awareness and Action

For Immediate release
November 1, 2007

Edmonton, Alberta. The Alberta Wilderness Association has appealed to Alberta’s elected officials to awaken to the plight of Grizzly Bears and other threatened species in Alberta.

As the Alberta Legislature prepares to open next week, the Association today delivered a Grizzly Bear package to every MLA.

The Association unveiled the first in a series of ads, this one featuring a lone bear clinging to a light post, symbolizing the desperate situation facing Grizzlies as they seek refuge where they can in Alberta. The Wilderness Association also introduced a web page savethegrizzly.ca which went live this morning and will be further developed in the coming weeks.

Conservation specialist Nigel Douglas made this statement.

While MLAs slept

“The Alberta Government has known for years that species are under siege. But the Province has taken a shortsighted view, fixated almost exclusively on development and royalties. Now the Grizzly population has plummeted to under 500.

“When Grizzlies are in this much danger, we know how damaged the whole ecosystem must be. It’s not just the Grizzlies who have suffered; woodland caribou are another stark example.

“Alberta needs to rediscover the conservation ethic which once had such a prominent place in this province.

“Nothing is more important”

“Last Thursday, in his television address to Albertans, Premier Stelmach put a strong emphasis on protecting Alberta’s environmental heritage and he stated that ‘nothing’s more important than protecting the land we’ve inherited’.

“We agree with the Premier. But unfortunately, we see no sign that the Provincial Government is prepared to act on this sentiment.

“In the past two weeks, while the government was talking about billions of resource dollars, resources minister Ted Morton gave his formal response to the Grizzly crisis.

“Mr. Morton was unable to find one new dollar for conservation initiatives which would help save the Grizzly. He did announce some weak gestures but those hardly reflect a Government which is serious about protecting the Alberta land inheritance.

“We unfortunately conclude that the only way to get the Government to act on conservation is to engage Albertans in this issue. That is why we are starting our wider campaign to protect Alberta’s lands and species like the Grizzlies.

“If the Bears could speak at this point in their long history, these powerful animals would be reduced to pleading for help. On their behalf, we say:

Mr. Premier, Mr. Minister and all MLAs: speaking for Alberta’s Grizzlies and other threatened species, we need your help. We need you to take meaningful action to reverse the devastation of wild lands and wild life in Alberta.

In this year of 2007, at this time in our province’s history, this is the right thing to do.

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Contact: Nigel Douglas
Conservation Specialist
Alberta Wilderness Association
(403) 283-2025

www.savethegrizzly.ca

455 - 12 Street, NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 2E1
Phone: (403) 283-2025 Fax: (403) 270-2743 Toll free: 1-866-313-0713

www.albertawilderness.ca