Officers Shoot 12 Bears At Northern Alberta Landfill

[snakeman]

Alberta wildlife officers shot and killed 12 black bears at a landfill just outside the hamlet of Conklin, Alta., earlier this week

 

Government officials said the decision was made to protect the public. The landfill had improper fencing and there were reports people were feeding the bears.

 

But critics now argue that the mass killings were uncalled for, and that the province should have invested in fences to keep the bears out of the garbage and away from humans.

 

Wildlife officers will now be monitoring the area and making sure residents don't go to the dump site to visit the bears.

 

 

This really pisses me off, no wonder the rest of this country thinks Alberta is run by rednecks. Fish & Wildlife needs to move up a few dozen notches on the governments priority list. When all the oil money dries up this province will need to depend on tourism to bring in the dough, but by being so short-sighted and raping the land like this (among other examples, like all the ducks killed on the oilsands) we're shooting ourselves in the foot. LAME

[bigbowtrout]

http://news.globaltv.com/technology/story.html?id=1893051

[dmcd]

This really pisses me off, no wonder the rest of this country thinks Alberta is run by rednecks. Fish & Wildlife needs to move up a few dozen notches on the governments priority list. When all the oil money dries up this province will need to depend on tourism to bring in the dough, but by being so short-sighted and raping the land like this (among other examples, like all the ducks killed on the oilsands) we're shooting ourselves in the foot. LAME

 

I was wondering how long it would take for a rant to shhow up here about this. The outfiters that set up shop in the spring 3 k from where I work kill more bears than this every year. Black bears are a dime a doz up here. LOL they should have set up a tree stand at the dump it would have saved them quadding in thier grease and scraps.

[bhurt]

The problem with the bears is that just by putting up fences is not going to stop them espically when they turn into garbage bears, they lose their abilities to hunt and become dependant on the garbage they were once eating.

 

In my own opion it is a lose lose situation, do you try and reloacate the bears which most of the time garbage bears end up dieing, kill them, which causes public out crying or leave them and allow them to go somewhere else and potientally hurt someone which causes a public outcry again and thus having to have the bears put down.

 

Snakeman, not disrespecting you but it is easy to say what idoits or what not but what is a solution that satifies everyone, if there is even one out there?

[Guest 420FLYFISHIN]

Im with you B, thats like putting your lap dog out in the woods, they dont know what to do any more because they probably spent 100% of their life digging trash for food. It is too bad, they would have made GREAT zoo bears...what do you do with a small trout that has taken the hook all the way down? do you bonk it or do you let it got the next few days dieing slow of internal bleeding?

[snakeman]

I hear you bhurt, I guess it's just a harsh reality of two worlds colliding.

Alberta needs some game parks, Kenya style. Take the wild animals living near human habitations and drop them off in a massive protected area with no roads or railways. THey could start with Siffleur and/or Castle. It would save animals lives, peoples lives, and be a huge tourism draw.

p.s. thanks for the link BBT

[Taco]

Piss poor PR for 2009, but relocation is not a very good option, I know what happens to ear tagged bears when they turn to camp raiding.

 

Hundreds of habituated bears ended up shot when they started close or fence the dumps yrs ago but there's virtually no excuse nowadays. I hope someone's testicles or facsimile thereof are held extremely close to fire for lettin' it slide this long.

[bhurt]

Piss poor PR for 2009, but relocation is not a very good option, I know what happens to ear tagged bears when they turn to camp raiding.

 

Hundreds of habituated bears ended up shot when they started close or fence the dumps yrs ago but there's virtually no excuse nowadays. I hope someone's testicles or facsimile thereof are held extremely close to fire for lettin' it slide this long.

I have to agree with you on this, this is the fault of the dump and not the bears or the F&W

 

The biggest thing that we have to remeber is that we are the ones that are intruding on the bears, and the futher and further we expand into the wilderness we are going to see more and more wildlife.

[Guest Sundancefisher]

I have to agree with you on this, this is the fault of the dump and not the bears or the F&W

 

The biggest thing that we have to remeber is that we are the ones that are intruding on the bears, and the futher and further we expand into the wilderness we are going to see more and more wildlife.

 

I agree. The dump is poorly managed and the people in that community are to be blamed for that. I also shake my head at the one resident's comment that "there were no signs put up saying not to feed the bears". Please...that guy needs to get real and shake his head. If he went to that dump at all for the purposes of bear feeding or even watching...he was part of the problem and not part of a solution. Once bears lose their fear of people...someone will eventually get hurt or killed. Any adult should have the brains to realize in this day and age that you don't feed the wildlife...especially a predator.

 

F&W is no to be blamed and moving bears has never really shown to work. Once the behavoir is learned it can not be unlearned so easily. If what is said regarding the over all bears population in this area being high...then we should be able to call this lesson learned and fix the problem and move on.

 

Cheers

 

Sun