Alberta Wildlife kill 12 bears

[sureLoss]

http://news.globaltv.com/technology/...362/story.html

EDMONTON — Wildlife officers shot and killed 12 black bears at a landfill in northern Alberta on Tuesday in what is believed to be the largest bear cull in recent history.


People from the hamlet of Conklin, population 166, regularly bring their children to the dump to watch, photograph and feed the bears, and the animals had become accustomed to people.


“The landfill had improper fencing and there were reports people were feeding the bears,” Alberta Sustainable Resource Development spokesman Darcy Whiteside said. “It was public safety concern. These bears were not afraid of humans anymore.”


But critics said the mass killing was inexcusable.


“Instead of investing in fences that would keep the bears out of the garbage and away from humans, they decide the cheapest solution is to lay to waste a bunch of living animals as if they didn’t have a right to exist. It’s really deplorable,” said Sid Marty, a park warden turned activist who recently published a book about a garbage-seeking grizzly who mauled five people in Banff, Alta., in the early 1980s, killing one.

[Gozer]

DESS is loose!

[Flashpoint]

Godless killing machines.

[dissentowner]

Brutal story! This makes me sad beyond belief, totally the wrong solution!

[Ruttiger]

As an aside, Sid Marty is my favourite author, bar none. If you have an appreciation for wilderness and wild places, his books are as good as it gets.

[MelBridgeman]

At least sell the meat and hides

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

At least sell the meat and hides

The meat they probably won't sell for a few reasons. It's not legal to sell wild meat, and there probably isn't much of a market for bear meat anyway.

As for the hides, they probably won't be selling those either, but they will find a use for them.
Alberta Wildlife isn't in the business of just shooting bears and letting them rot.

As for the rest of the story, before anyone places blame on AW remeber that it's not their fault. It's the fault of the hamlet who improperly disposed of their garbage, and the people who came around to see the bears that habituated them. Fences seem like a good idea, but now that the bears are used to an easy meal, the solution isn't that simple.

The fish cops aren't the stupid ones here, they're doing their best to clean up the messes made by stupid people.

[jammies]

Putting fences around the dump makes the bears hungry. The hungry bears then see some soft, tasty looking and apparently unthreatening people. Hmm....

[The Yen Man]

Don't blame AW, blame the people from the hamlet. It's all good right now to criticize AW for their actions. But if the bears had mauled a bunch of gawkers from the town, I think people would be criticizing AW for not doing anything.

[Esoteric]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

Don't blame AW, blame the people from the hamlet. It's all good right now to criticize AW for their actions. But if the bears had mauled a bunch of gawkers from the town, I think people would be criticizing AW for not doing anything.

Agreed. The people should not have been feeding the bears in the first place - I don't think putting up fences would have solved this situation.

Better to take no chances with human life, then relocate the bears somewhere else and have someone get killed.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Why aren't people running AWAY from the bears instead of feeding them? I don't know about the rest of humanity, but when I see a bear, I tend to move in the opposite direction, regardless of how "friendly" that thing looks.

It's a damn BEAR.

[Displaced Flames fan]

The real problem is that AW wasn't aware of the situation early enough. An earlier intervention probably would've seen a nice little trap and relocate program. Once the bears are unafraid of humans they have no chance.

I agree it is sad, but with the little bit of information they gave us it was probably the most humane solution.

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by Ruttiger

As an aside, Sid Marty is my favourite author, bar none. If you have an appreciation for wilderness and wild places, his books are as good as it gets.

Cool ... he's my absolute favourite author too. I have all of his books ... even his poetry. I have one of his music CDs too.

I had the good fortune to meet Sid through a mutual friend once. I spent a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon with Sid, his wife Merna, and a couple other couples swilling beer and smoking Backwoods cigars. He's a very interesting guy, and humorous too in a cynical way. He's the kind of guy the enviro movement needs more of ... someone with strong ethics, but tempered with common sense.