Alberta Wilderness Association calls for 5-year suspension on grizzly bear hunt
CALGARY – The Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA) is asking the Alberta government to once again suspend the hunting of grizzly bears to protect the threatened species. Alberta's spring grizzly hunt was stopped for three years beginning in 2006 but since that it has been suspended on a year-by-year basis. No decision has been announced for 2011.
AWA is asking the province for the hunt suspension to be extended for a further five years at 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 that and year after that."Grizzly bears were designated as a threatened species in 2010.
AWA says grizzlies in Alberta continue to die at an unsustainable rate due to factors outside of hunting, including motorized vehicle access to their habitat. An estimated 29 bears died in 2010, equalling approximately 4.2 per cent of the total population in Alberta. According to the province's 2010 report, Status of the Alberta Grizzly Bear in Alberta, a 2.8 per cent mortality rate is considered 'sustainable.'AWA says allowing the grizzly hunt will make an already difficult problem even worse.
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Vital Ground is collaborating with the Alberta-based Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative on the project.
AWA is asking the province for the hunt suspension to be extended for a further five years at 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 that and year after that."Grizzly bears were designated as a threatened species in 2010.
AWA says grizzlies in Alberta continue to die at an unsustainable rate due to factors outside of hunting, including motorized vehicle access to their habitat. An estimated 29 bears died in 2010, equalling approximately 4.2 per cent of the total population in Alberta. According to the province's 2010 report, Status of the Alberta Grizzly Bear in Alberta, a 2.8 per cent mortality rate is considered 'sustainable.'AWA says allowing the grizzly hunt will make an already difficult problem even worse.
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In brief: Groups seek funds for grizzly habitat
Conservation groups are trying to raise $1.5 million to secure grizzly migration corridors in the Cabinet-Purcell Mountains. The groups have purchase options on two parcels, totaling 258 acres, near Troy and Noxon, Mont. The parcels were identified as critical grizzly use areas based on wildlife studies and computer modeling done by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Trans-border Grizzly Bear Project, said Ryan Lutey, lands director for the Vital Ground Foundation, which would manage the lands. Both parcels are located in valley bottoms.
About 35 to 45 grizzly bears are believed to remain in the Cabinet-Purcell Mountains, which span 2,600-square miles in northwest Montana and southern British Columbia. Protecting migration routes will help grizzlies avoid conflicts with people and survive in an era of climate change, Lutey said.Vital Ground is collaborating with the Alberta-based Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative on the project.
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