Banff-Kananaskis MLA Sarah Elmeligi believes shifting of Fish and Wildlife to Alberta Sheriffs limits their ability to respond to Fish and Wildlife incidents.
During question period in the Legislative Assembly yesterday, she became the first to publicly state the livestock killed north of Cochrane appears to be the result of bear attacks and is concerned Fish and Wildlife have been stripped of resources to aid rural residents.
She said Fish and Wildlife officers did respond but didn't launch an investigation. Instead, they asked the residents to take some pictures of the bear the next time they saw it.
"Asking people from the public to track an aggressive grizzly bear is a ridiculous, preposterous idea," said Elmeligi, "given that my constituents have actually mounted their own remote cameras, collected hair, sent them to labs for DNA analysis, and even [recruited] a human bear conflict specialist for advice."
She says when Fish and Wildlife was shifted to the Alberta Sheriffs branch it was eliminated from the ministry's business plan and not even mentioned in the ministry's 2023 budget.
Elmeligi says Fish and Wildlife are essential to rural residents' safety and ability to coexist with wildlife. She said that the grizzly bear recovery plan recommended hiring a human-bear conflict specialists for ech bear management unit.
"Yet no specialists have been hired, and given that the lack of Fish and Wildlife support is incentive to shoot, shovel and shut up vigilantism, can the minister commit to investing?"
The question was ignored in the vague response from Todd Loewen, Forestry and Parks minister.
"I find this pretty insulting to the good people that work in Fish and Wildlife services and our Fish and Wildlife officers that they're doing the good work," said Loewen. "Their job is to take care of these issues as they come forward, and part of that is bringing Albertans in to be involved with the process of managing problem wildlife."
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Kelly Holmes, whose family lost their national-level breakaway roping horse Bucky, says they are disappointed in the response to the attacks in the area and have been forced to take the investigation into their own hands.
"Any victim of a predator attack deserves a thorough investigation," she says.