{"id":601268,"date":"2026-04-13T13:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T13:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/601268\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T13:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T13:44:11","slug":"conservation-groups-call-for-science-based-approach-to-alberta-grizzly-bear-hunt-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/601268\/","title":{"rendered":"Conservation groups call for ‘science-based’ approach to Alberta grizzly bear hunt proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recent calls for the Alberta government to open the first grizzly bear hunting season<\/a> in two decades aren’t justified by science, some conservation groups say.<\/p>\n

Last month, the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) passed a policy resolution<\/a> calling to\u00a0“advocate to\u00a0the\u00a0[provincial government] to implement a regulated grizzly bear hunt administered through a draw system.” <\/p>\n

But a lack of recent grizzly bear population research has prompted conservation groups to stress the need for a “science-based” approach to grizzly management.<\/p>\n

The Alberta Wildlife Federation said in a statement it would support “limited harvest” of grizzly bears, if it were justified as part of a management plan.<\/p>\n

“The regulated hunt would need to be based on sound science that reflects the need to sustain the grizzly bear population while balancing the societal needs for human safety and protection of property.”<\/p>\n

The RMA’s advocacy stems from what Cardston County called “a significant increase in human-bear interactions” in southwestern Alberta, including a fisherman injured<\/a> by a grizzly with cubs near the town of Cardston,\u00a0about 20 kilometres north of the U.S. border, last summer.<\/p>\n

The majority of RMA’s membership, which is made up of more than 60 rural Alberta counties and municipal districts, voted in support of the resolution.<\/p>\n

\"GrizzlyConservation groups say recent calls for the provincial government to legalize the hunting of threatened grizzly bears in Alberta aren’t justified by science due to a lack of up-to-date population studies. (Amir Said\/CBC)<\/p>\n

In 2024<\/a>, the RMA called for the province to increase funding for management of grizzly bears, particularly “problem” bears. That lobbying was unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

In a statement sent to CBC News, the Ministry of Forestry and Parks did not directly respond to the prospect of a grizzly bear hunt, but said its management approach “is guided by science and expert advice, with a focus on maintaining public safety, reducing conflicts, and maintaining sustainable grizzly bear populations.”<\/p>\n

\u201cAlberta\u2019s government is focused on protecting both public safety and wildlife by continuing to manage grizzly bears responsibly,” the province said.<\/p>\n

More evidence needed to justify hunt, advocate says<\/p>\n

Alberta Wilderness Association conservation specialist Ruiping Luo told CBC News that while the organization acknowledges the threat grizzly bears may present to livestock and public safety, there is not “enough transparency and enough evidence to start a grizzly hunt.”<\/p>\n

“We don’t have current updated population numbers for what the grizzly bear population looks like here,” Luo said. “All of our population estimates are from eight years ago, or older.”<\/p>\n

There hasn’t been a provincial study on grizzly numbers since 2018. The RMA policy resolution points to data from\u00a0a 2016 study <\/a>suggesting a high population density of grizzly bears in southwestern Alberta.<\/p>\n

“All the information we have on what the grizzly bear population looks like right now is mostly speculation and assumptions,” Luo said. “We don’t have the monitoring data to justify that grizzly bear numbers are increasing.”<\/p>\n

WATCH | Proposal to hunt grizzly bears in Alberta faces pushback:\"\"<\/p>\n

Proposal to hunt grizzly bears in Alberta faces pushback<\/p>\n

Some wildlife advocates say more information is needed for Alberta’s grizzly management program amid calls to reopen its grizzly bear hunt.<\/p>\n

Without a proper count, Luo said increased encounters could potentially be chalked up to bears pushed out of their habitat by development, or increased visitation to bear country by hikers and tourists, rather than increasing grizzly numbers.<\/p>\n

Last year, a\u00a0high number of bear encounters<\/a>\u00a0in provincial parks led Alberta Parks to issue\u00a0a blanket bear warning<\/a>\u00a0for the entirety of Kananaskis Country \u2014 the first time such an advisory was issued since 2016.<\/p>\n

Luo said the organization’s stance could change if presented with evidence that grizzly bear numbers have gone up substantially.<\/p>\n

The RMA is also calling for the province “to\u00a0end the Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan,”\u00a0which has been in place since 2008,\u00a0“and implement a Grizzly Bear Management Plan.”<\/p>\n

The\u00a0recovery plan<\/a>\u00a0includes protecting and restoring grizzly habitat in mapped-out bear management areas,\u00a0working to minimize the risk of human-wildlife conflict and human-caused grizzly bear mortality, and raising awareness on bear coexistence through\u00a0BearSmart<\/a>\u00a0programs across Alberta. <\/p>\n

Threatened species designation complicates calls for hunt<\/p>\n

Exposed Wildlife Conservancy executive director Maggie Spizzirri said in a statement that hunting grizzly bears would “not address the root causes of conflict.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWildlife management decisions must be grounded in current, peer-reviewed science,\u201d said Spizzirri. \u201cAnecdotal observations cannot replace robust data when we\u2019re making decisions about a threatened species.”<\/p>\n

\"TwoGrizzly bears have low reproductive rates \u2014 adults typically begin breeding when they\u2019re five to eight, and sows have one litter every three to five years after that \u2014 which contributes to their status as a threatened species in Alberta. (Amir Said\/CBC)<\/p>\n

The Alberta government designated grizzly bears a threatened species in 2010, meaning there were believed to be fewer than 1,000 mature adults in the province. Adults make up roughly half of the grizzly population. <\/p>\n

The province said in a 2024 release that Alberta\u2019s grizzly bear population had \u201cincreased from approximately 800 to more than 1,150 now, causing them to move into more populated areas.\u201d <\/p>\n

Grizzly bear hunting has been banned in Alberta since 2006, with the exception of harvesting by Indigenous hunters for subsistence or cultural purposes. The province also allows approved hunters to kill “problem” grizzlies on a case-by-case basis through the Wildlife Management Responder Network<\/a> introduced in 2024.<\/p>\n

Exposed Wildlife Conservancy expressed support for some of the non-lethal proposals the RMA advocated for, which include calls for the province to “establish a dedicated funding program to support grizzly bear research, conflict-mitigation efforts, and community safety initiatives” and to increase funding to help landowners bear-proof their property.<\/p>\n

The provincial government announced in 2024<\/a> it would spend $700,000 over five years to keep large carnivores away from rural properties in southwestern Alberta.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Financial factors likely behind lack of studies<\/p>\n

Gordon Stenhouse, the biologist behind much of Alberta’s previous grizzly bear population research, told CBC News there’s likely a simple explanation for why there hasn’t been a study done since 2018.<\/p>\n

“These things are expensive to do, and they’re time-consuming,” he said.<\/p>\n

Stenhouse said during his time working with the province, his research consistently demonstrated grizzly numbers were on the rise<\/a> in much of Alberta.<\/p>\n

“I think a lot of people said, ‘OK, we’re done. We know everything now. Bears are good. Let’s move on to another problem,'” he said. “And unfortunately, I don’t think that was a good call. I think you need to keep monitoring, especially in areas where people are having difficulties.”<\/p>\n

In a November 2025 email obtained by CBC News through an access to information request, provincial carnivore specialist Paul Frame told a colleague that the Alberta government had the opportunity to conduct a grizzly bear population study recently, but the province “was unwilling to spend any money on it.”<\/p>\n

WATCH | Grizzly goes after beehives in Bearberry, Alta.:\"\"<\/p>\n

Grizzly goes after beehives in Bearberry, Alta.<\/p>\n

Mountain View County beekeepers Simone and Steven Dold often have to deal with unwanted guests trying to steal from their hives, like this grizzly bear. The brazen bruin attempted to pull off a late-night heist \u2014 but didn’t get the honey it was looking for.<\/p>\n

Stenhouse said he wants the provincial government to set resources aside for more grizzly bear population research.<\/p>\n

“It has to be seen as a priority, and personally I think it should be,” he said. “These are still listed as a threatened species, and to manage them wisely, we need to continue to monitor.”<\/p>\n

“I think as a society and as a government, we need to continue to collect data to make good decisions, and to make decisions without data is very risky.”<\/p>\n

The province’s previous grizzly bear population research came with a hefty price tag, but Stenhouse suggested less-expensive options like working with ranchers to collect grizzly bear hair<\/a> for DNA research.<\/p>\n

“I think involving local people to help understand bears will make a big difference,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Most Albertans want to know that there’s grizzly bears in our province. I think we take pride in that, right? It’s part of how we feel as Albertans, and the idea that you don’t just have to go to the national parks<\/a> to see a bear. You can see them other places too,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Recent calls for the Alberta government to open the first grizzly bear hunting season in two decades aren’t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-601268","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}