Bear Matters BC

June 11, 2007 at 4:14 AM EDT

A unique census of grizzly bears in the Foothills and lower slopes of the
Rocky Mountains in southwestern Alberta has found that the population is now
so small that some experts question whether they will still be there in 100
years.

The new report estimates the number of grizzly bears living west and south
of Calgary and south of Banff National Park, inside an approximately
7,600-square-kilometre stretch of land, at fewer than 100.

The estimate - backed by research techniques involving inventive DNA
sleuthing that employs razor wire and a mix of rancid cow blood and
liquefied fish - is the latest chapter in the continuing debate over the
stewardship of grizzly bears within the province. It is trying to decide how
to account for the grizzlies, how to accommodate industries that disrupt
their habitat and lives, and how to keep them alive well into the future.

Brian Horejsi, a Calgary-based researcher and bear expertwho has been
researching Alberta grizzlies since the early 1970s, said the latest
population count suggests the southwestern population is potentially on the
road to extinction.

“We’re talking about a very, very limited number of bears that are keeping
this bear population alive this year,” Mr. Horejsi told The Globe yesterday.

“When you have those minute numbers - and they are minute - a mortality
here, a bear hit by a train, a bear shot illegally or accidentally by an elk
hunter - you are dealing with an envelope that is very, very narrow.”

Starting in 2003, the province began looking at ways of maintaining its
grizzly population, which also meant learning just how many there were
throughout the province, in part because there were conflicting estimates of
their numbers. Alberta also declared a three-year moratorium on grizzly
hunting in March, 2006, in an effort to stave off any interference while it
checked out the numbers.

The final numbers and their related report were released to the public last
week.

“We halted the grizzly bear hunt and we are doing this analysis basically,
to establish, accurately, as accurate as we possibly can, how many grizzly
bears are actually in Alberta,” said Darcy Whiteside, a spokesman for the
Ministry of Sustainable Resource Development.

In order to get the numbers they needed, the researchers used a smelly treat
- a two-to-one mixture of cow blood and fish - to lure the grizzlies.

The bait was surrounded by a thin layer of barbed wire mounted about a
half-metre off the ground. When interested bears went to check out the
enticing scent, the wire would scrape a few hairs off the backs of their fur
coats. And since the bears’ individual hairs contain valuable DNA, the
researchers could then collect the hairs and very accurately count the
number of unique bears that had visited the site.

Mr. Horejsi believes the numbers are accurate and has concluded that the
southwestern population could potentially be gone in as soon as 50 to 100
years. He said that in typical bear populations, only about 15 per cent are
capable of breeding in any particular year leaving very few bears available
for reproducing in such a small population.

He also pointed out that while DNA testing can determine the number of
bears, it cannot be used to find their age, meaning it is impossible to tell
how big or small the local population of breeding-age grizzly bears may be.

Citing human interference and industrialization as the two big factors in
holding back the grizzly population, Mr. Horejsi says he thinks protecting
their wild habitat, perhaps reclaiming some human developments and
maintaining the ban on hunting would be their best bet for survival.

“All of these things essentially are making what is fundamentally or
innately good habitat, virtually insecure and unusable for bears and that is
the crux of the matter,” said Mr. Horejsi.

“It’s a massive failure of management and worse yet, it’s got the bears
hanging on the edge of the rope.”

Others agree that simply cutting back on hunting will not sufficiently
improve the grizzly bears’ survival prospects.

Bob Richards, a big-game outfitter who leads tours through parts of
northwestern Alberta, said he thinks that despite the immediate effects of a
moratorium on hunting, it is not a long-term solution for protecting the
local population.

“The No. 1 impact to grizzly bear populations is [vehicle] access,” said Mr.
Richards, who lives in Airdrie, just north of Calgary.

“I don’t mind, from an outfitting perspective, if the government were to
shut down all vehicle access, all motorized access and that would probably
be the No. 1 benefit to the grizzly bear population.”

“I don’t think it’s a good long-term management plan,” said Mr. Richards, of
the hunting ban that comes without any efforts to roll back human access to
the bears.

“I think it’s more like a real quick Band-Aid, and everyone will feel
comfortable with that, but, in the long-term, the grizzly bear population is
still going to suffer.”