Last week, The Leader heard that Athabasca Fish and Wildlife officers shot three black bear cubs near Chisholm. Apparently, the bears were causing a bit of trouble on an elderly woman’s property. John Ward of Chisholm does a bit of yard work for the woman. He says both he and the property owner were appalled to know that bears are shot instead of relocated.
“They shot the three babies and dropped the mother off on Chisholm Road, says Ward. “She (the elderly woman) said she asked them why are you going to kill the babies. They said their boss told them to. She couldn’t believe it. They took them in the bush and she heard pow, pow, pow.”
Ben Biro is a fish and wildlife officer in Athabasca and was on the scene on May 26, the day the bears were shot. He confirms that the cubs were shot and says it is a common solution when dealing with problem bears.
“Normally, when bears are causing property damage, public safety is the issue. The bears are generally put down,” Biro says. “The bears in question were put down. We won’t deny that.” Contrary to the sentiment of Ward and his employer, shooting bears is not an arbitrary decision. Simply put, relocating black bears meets with limited success and the large bear population can absorb the loss.
“The problem with black bears is that there are just not enough areas to relocate them. When we do, we don’t meet with very high success. We’re limited in how far we can go to get these bears away from people. Typically, the bears make their way back to the area they were just been relocated from.”
According to Ward, the mother bear in this case did just that. The real problem is what the woman has in her backyard – a skinning shack. To a bear, the smells emanating from that shack would prove irresistible.
“We had the individual clean up everything,” says Biro, “but you can’t get rid of those smells. I don’t like putting down animals. That’s not why I’m here. A lot of times we’re not putting the animal down because it has a problem, it’s because people have a problem.”
Biro comments that living in rural northern Alberta increases the risk that people cross paths with bears, cougars, and wolves. Removing food sources – dog food, birdseed, barbeques – and securing garbage goes a long way to ensuring your property is bear free.
If the bear in question was a grizzly bear, Biro says much more time and money would have been spent to relocate the animals. The lower population demands that critical action is taken, even if that means moving the bear out of the province.
“People don’t want to start paying for helicopter time to move these bears 500 – 600 kms, we’re talking on the boundary of the Northwest Territories. If it was a grizzly bear, yes it would be another story. It would be a high priority and dealt with differently.”

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