EDMONTON – Ranchers in southern Alberta want the government to expand the grizzly bear hunt near Twin Butte because of an increase in the grizzly population.
“All the ranchers are asking is to manage the bears like they did in the past,” said Clint Marr of Twin Butte.
Marr said pressure from logging and recreation in the Flathead Valley, near Fernie, B.C., has pushed the grizzlies over the mountains and onto their ranch land.
The bears have followed the game, but have discovered beef is easier and tastier prey than wild game, said Marr.
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“We’re not asking the government to kill all the bears, but to manage them,” Marr told the Alberta Cattle Commission annual meeting during a resolutions debate.
The delegates passed a resolution asking the commission to lobby the government to increase grizzly hunting tags issued for their area.
Hunting more efficient
Only one grizzly tag is issued each year for the Twin Butte area.
Keith Everts, from nearby Pincher Creek, said it makes more sense to increase hunting rather than attempt to move the problem bears away from the area, because the bears are likely to die when moved.
But Tom Livingston, of Duchess, offered a more radical solution and said it’s better to take care of problem bears without attracting the government’s attention.
“It’s much better to shoot, shovel, and shut up.”
Still, others felt the cattle commission should take a more environmentally friendly approach to dealing with an endangered species.
But that approach raised the ire of Lundbreck rancher Hugh Lynch-Staunton.
“It’s pretty upsetting to me that an organization like this is believing the media instead of their fellow producers,” he said. “If organizations like the cattle commission refuse to support those of us with problems, we’ll be in a pretty sorry state.”
