The ongoing battle against grizzly bear poaching in Alberta

For anyone looking to hunt a grizzly bear here in Alberta, a hefty $100,000 fine and possibly jail time awaits you. Despite rules in place to protect this threatened species, the province is currently investigating a couple of disturbing deaths. It's upsetting to see this continued theme in this province of what feels like a war on wildlife. You know, we're constantly having this debate about to hunt, to not to hunt. With the exception of Indigenous hunters, poaching a grizzly bear has been banned province-wide since 2006. Yet, year after year, bears continue losing their lives. And this year is no different. Wildlife enforcement is investigating the death of two grizzlies in northern Alberta. One bear was reportedly shot about 20 kilometers north of Swan Hills, and the other was in northwestern Alberta where it had been shot and had all four of its paws removed. There's a market for paws, a black market for grizzly bear paws. It's highly illegal, but poaching the bear was highly illegal in the first place. With 161 human-caused grizzly bear deaths between 2020 and 2025, some experts argue their deaths are a result of humans and bears struggling to coexist. When people feel a lot of fear, this can lead to this type of behavior where we see people just going out and shooting and killing a grizzly bear when they see it. Grizzly bears are often seen as an indicator of a healthy ecosystem, and that by removing even one of them, longer-term consequences could follow. Bears manage and move foodstuffs around, and they spread seeds from plants and berries in their travels, and they also keep down certain other ungulate populations as being a predator in the ecosystem. Fish and Wildlife Enforcement is currently looking into four illegal grizzly bear killings province-wide. They're asking anyone who spots a poacher to report them. Tristan Mottershed, CBC News, Edmonton.