‘Berta Brings Back the Grizzly Bear Hunt

Well, kinda.

After a two-decade hiatus, the Alberta government is bringing back a very controlled version of grizzly bear hunting to Canada’s west. Looking to put a plug in the number of attacks, the province is amending their Wildlife Act ever so slightly.

Inserting resident hunters as proxy wildlife managers, Alberta is allowing hunters to track and kill “problem” grizzly bears that are deemed a threat to public safety. The province will be taking applications from resident hunters to be entered into a government-approved pool of hunters that will receive “grizzly bear management authorization” for specific bears. 

How specific? Well, in order to send a flying projectile their way, a wildlife officer must first determine that a bear is involved in a human-bear conflict. It then must be determined that the bear in question is without cubs and “poses an imminent public safety risk” or has “killed livestock, damaged private property or made contact with a human resulting in injury or death,” according to a new definition that was included as part of the change to the Wildlife Act.

If a hunter is selected (the odds are forever in your favor), the hunter must be on-site within 24 hours and will only be authorized to hunt in a contained area, during specific windows of time and by using the equipment as prescribed by officials. 

If all of the stars align, as indicated above, the hunter is free and clear to try and find that bear and kill it. No word on what happens to the meat, hide and skull as of this publication, but from the sounds of things, it will likely wrapped in a few layers of red tape.

Despite the honest attempt to keep this new grizzly “hunt” as professional as possible, those who oppose grizzly hunting naturally oppose any proposal that ends up with someone actually hunting them. Yes, activists have very little issue with government-sanctioned shooters, but believe that anyone who does it recreationally or for sustenance should be criminalized.

Fortunately, at the moment, the Alberta government remains in disagreement with the naysayers. With eight deaths attributed to grizzly mauling since the last hunt was removed, Forestry and Parks secretary Pam Davidson believes the changes are in place “to protect Albertans.”

While heavily regulated, it’s a step in the right direction. In a world where many governments would rather spend hundreds of thousands (even millions) to employ sharpshooters or provide vasectomies, it’s refreshing to see an attempt to give some of that opportunity back to hunters.