Grizzly bear 152 and cubs were spotted alongside Highway 40 in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park on June 15, 2021, the day the road to Highwood Pass reopened for the summer.'
A grizzly is spotted alongside a highway in this file photo. The Alberta government is introducing targeted hunts for specific grizzly bears that have become 'problematic.' The Alberta government will permit selective grizzly bear hunts should they meet certain criteria, raising concerns from environmentalists who worry about the impacts on a threatened species..
In 2021, efforts to help the Alberta grizzly population recover were credited as the number of bears increased to somewhere between 856 and 973. Today, the province estimates more than 1,150 grizzly bears live in Alberta. "And that doesn't mean that it's time to start up a grizzly bear hunt. It just means that some positive progress has been made. And we don't want to undo that."Environmental groups are calling the move, in effect, a reintroduction of grizzly hunting in Alberta. But Loewen views it differently.
"If we were to call this a 'hunt,' then we would have to be considering that the work that Fish and Wildlife officers have been doing in the last 20 years has also been hunting, which they're not," Loewen said. "They're taking care of problem wildlife." Sarah Elmeligi, Alberta NDP critic for environment and tourism, is pictured in a file photo. She said scientific research indicates the best way to reduce conflict is to work with people to better coexist with grizzly bears.
"If we're going to be making these large changes to a management of species at risk, there should be more consultation," said CPAWS northern Alberta chapter director Tara Russell. While populations in many bear management areas have stabilized and in some cases increased, grizzly bears are still listed as a threatened species, she said.that as populations recover, population management is needed. But there's also an emphasis on coexistence."I do think that prioritizing the conservation of grizzly bear habitat has been the biggest step that's been overlooked," Russell said.
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