Alberta kills 10 grizzlies under wildlife program, sparking conservation alarm

Alberta has killed 10 grizzlies under a provincial program that grants private hunters authorization to shoot bears deemed habituated or dangerous to livestock, drawing sharp criticism from wildlife experts and conservation groups who say the numbers confirm their deepest concerns about the policy.

Most of the animals were killed in Alberta's southwest corner due to threats they posed to ranchers' livestock, said Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen. He called the shootings a reflection of an unfortunate increase in human-grizzly conflict, adding that "the government's wildlife management policy is always based on science."

By comparison, one grizzly was killed under the program in 2025, though the policy didn't come into place until partway through that year. The program was announced in 2024 as a targeted response to problem bears, separate from the sport hunting moratorium that has been in place since 2006.

Former Alberta wildlife officer John Clarke called the 2026 tally alarming. "That's a lot," he said. "I would call that a hunting season." Clarke, who now operates a bear safety consultancy in the Crowsnest Pass, has previously raised concerns that the policy makes it more likely for innocent bears or reproductively vital females to be killed. "I'd really want to know where that's been happening, whether they're male or female," he said.

Ruiping Luo, a conservation specialist with the Alberta Wilderness Association, said her group has been unable to obtain details about how the program is unfolding. "We had concerns it'd increase the number of bears being killed, that people would try to find the opportunity to kill bears that would not normally be euthanized," she said. "We've been trying to get information on the program and government officials said they'd get us that but they never did or a lot of it's been redacted."

Provincial officials maintain the policy does not represent a resumption of the grizzly hunt. The province says the grizzly population in Alberta has grown from roughly 800 in 2010 to more than 1,100, counted through DNA analysis of hair samples from rub trees. However, a formal population count hasn't been conducted since 2018, though the province has commissioned a monitoring program in two of Alberta's seven bear management areas to better gauge sustainability. The province's grizzly recovery plan calls for a count every five years.