XPost: can.general, can.rec.hunting, soc.culture.canada   
   From: abc@123.cl   
      
   Alberta wildlife officers kill 12 bears at dump   
      
      
   August 14, 2009   
      
      
   This handout photo from the Colorado Division of Wildlife taken July   
   26, 2001 and released to Reuters August 31, 2007 shows a black bear in   
   trash dumpster in a residential neighborhood in Colorado. Wildlife   
   officers there killed dozens of black bears after catching the   
   marauding bruins rummaging through campsites, foraging in neighborhood   
   trash cans and breaking into homes for food after weather conditions   
   decimated the species natural food supply this year. Wildlife officers   
   shot and killed 12 black bears at a landfill in northern Alberta on   
   Tuesday in what is believed to be the largest bear cull in recent   
   history. People who lived near the dump regularly brought their   
   children to the site to watch, photograph and feed the bears, and the   
   animals had become accustomed to people.   
      
   More Images »   
      
   This handout photo from the Colorado Division of Wildlife taken July   
   26, 2001 and released to Reuters August 31, 2007 shows a black bear in   
   trash dumpster in a residential neighborhood in Colorado. Wildlife   
   officers there killed dozens of black bears after catching the   
   marauding bruins rummaging through campsites, foraging in neighborhood   
   trash cans and breaking into homes for food after weather conditions   
   decimated the species natural food supply this year. Wildlife officers   
   shot and killed 12 black bears at a landfill in northern Alberta on   
   Tuesday in what is believed to be the largest bear cull in recent   
   history. People who lived near the dump regularly brought their   
   children to the site to watch, photograph and feed the bears, and the   
   animals had become accustomed to people.   
   Photograph by: Michael Seraphin, Reuters   
      
   EDMONTON — Wildlife officers shot and killed 12 black bears at a   
   landfill in northern Alberta on Tuesday in what is believed to be the   
   largest bear cull in recent history.   
      
   People from the hamlet of Conklin, population 166, regularly bring   
   their children to the dump to watch, photograph and feed the bears, and   
   the animals had become accustomed to people.   
      
   “The landfill had improper fencing and there were reports people were   
   feeding the bears,” Alberta Sustainable Resource Development spokesman   
   Darcy Whiteside said. “It was public safety concern. These bears were   
   not afraid of humans anymore.”   
      
   But critics said the mass killing was inexcusable.   
      
   “Instead of investing in fences that would keep the bears out of the   
   garbage and away from humans, they decide the cheapest solution is to   
   lay to waste a bunch of living animals as if they didn’t have a right   
   to exist. It’s really deplorable,” said Sid Marty, a park warden turned   
   activist who recently published a book about a garbage-seeking grizzly   
   who mauled five people in Banff, Alta., in the early 1980s, killing   
   one.   
      
   “What are they going to, shoot every bear that comes to the dump until   
   the end of time?”   
      
   On Aug. 5, the ministry received a bear complaint from the PTI Conklin   
   Lodge, a housing complex for about 300 oilsands workers, about two   
   kilometres from the dump.   
      
   Fred Bannon, vice-president of operations, said the manager called fish   
   and wildlife officers after he saw five bears climbing on decks and   
   hanging around the buildings.   
      
   The bears were killed Aug. 11.   
      
   A Conklin resident who wished to remain anonymous was outraged when he   
   heard the bears were killed instead of relocated, and contacted The   
   Edmonton Journal.   
      
   “It’s totally inhumane. We are in their environment, there are no   
   fences, this dump is unmanned, there are no signs to say don’t feed the   
   bears,” he said.   
      
   The ministry is currently working with communities as part of its new   
   Bear Smart education campaign, he said, and Conklin is on the list of   
   future communities to work with. In the meantime, officers will be   
   monitoring the area and making sure people don’t go to the dump to   
   visit the bears.   
      
   He said Alberta Environment and the municipality are responsible for   
   ensuring proper fencing is in place to protect bears and humans. “The   
   fencing issue has been addressed with the municipality. It’s not our   
   responsibility to build the fence around the landfill.”   
      
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