Must say no to grizzly hunt

Mel Knight, Alberta's new Sustainable Resources Minister, needs to stop playing politics with Alberta's grizzly bears. The international standard for a threatened species is 1,000 mature breeding adults. Alberta has 359 mature grizzlies. End of story. Yet Knight, the MLA for Grande Prairie-Smoky, appears to be caving in to a small group of hunting advocates from his home turf in northwestern Alberta who want Alberta's grizzly bear hunt to be reinstated, at least on a limited basis in the Grande Cache area.

In a recent interview, Knight indicated that public safety, not science, may be the determining factor in whether to reinstate the grizzly hunt, which has been suspended since 2006. "First and foremost, the protection of people and the safety of individuals in Alberta is part of this whole issue," Knight said. He was referring to the relatively sparsely populated Grande Cache area, which appears to be lousy with grizzlies. The area had 66 grizzly bear occurrences last year, ranging from grizzly sightings to attacks on livestock.

Here's a suggestion for Knight that we've taken directly from an Alberta hunting forum website. Rather than reaching for a gun as a first resort for defence, try this: keep the brain engaged, carry pepper spray -- which is the safest and the most effective defence when travelling alone -- and, lastly, use a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun loaded alternately with buck shot and slugs.

Some hunters will dismiss this paper's position on the hunt as the opinion of a group of urban intellectuals who romantically view the grizzly bear as a wilderness icon that needs protection regardless of their population numbers. We are not opposed to the managed harvests of game. It is good wildlife management. But when it comes to Alberta's grizzlies, even the hunting members of our editorial board agree that the number of reproducing grizzlies is too low provincewide to maintain a sustainable population in the long term.

The resource and development pressures that have fragmented grizzly habitat in this province will eventually reach Grande Cache. Knight, who is under pressure from factions on both sides of the grizzly issue, must have the courage to take the long view. After eight years of research, studies, consultations and $2 million spent counting bears with DNA-based methods, it is time for this government to do the right thing and continue its freeze of hunting grizzly bears in Alberta.

On the basis of the latest bear population figures, Alberta's Endangered Species Conservation Committee is poised to reiterate its recommendation to the provincial government that grizzlies be listed as a threatened species, a recommendation it made back in 2002. It is zero hour for Alberta's grizzlies. It is time for this province to end the endless studies and take a stand.