Dozens gathered in Canmore last weekend to support the community and express affection for Bow Valley wildlife after well-known grizzly bear 148 was relocated out of the valley and killed soon after by a hunter.
Dozens gathered in Canmore last weekend to support the community and express affection for Bow Valley wildlife after well-known grizzly bear 148 was relocated out of the valley and killed soon after by a hunter.
The group held signs, some of which read, “We Care 4 Bears” and “Caring Deeply For Canmore” and marched from Centennial Park and along Canmore's Main Street to the Civic Centre on Saturday (Oct. 7).
Three Sisters For Wildlife, a local activist group, organized the gathering which included speakers Banff-Cochrane MLA Cameron Westhead, conservationist Harvey Locke, and Bill Snow of Stoney Tribal Administration, among others.
“We all need to be the change we wish to see in our valley for wildlife,” said Kay Anderson, one of the organizers.
The event garnered a political undertone, in which multiple speakers referenced the upcoming municipal election on Oct. 16.
However, most attendees were there to mourn bear 148, a six and a half year old female grizzly relocated out of the valley twice in 2017 after multiple encounters with humans.
The second time she was taken to a remote area in northwestern Alberta, where she travelled into British Columbia and was legally shot and killed by a hunter near McBride on Sept. 24.
“Nature is normal here, things that take away nature are abnormal,” said Locke, “We are living in an amazing experiment in this valley and we still have grizzly bears and wolves … we have a chance to live in the 21st century in harmony with nature, or we can just degrade this place like most mountain valleys in the world are degraded.”
Locke added that wild nature requires a spirit of humility and sharing from people.
“It's not about me – it's about us and us includes nature,” he said.
Part of the sharing and humility includes respecting bear closures and walking dogs on-leash in required areas. Most recently this summer, for example, charges were laid against those unwilling to cooperate – still, people continued to enter closures.
Westhead said the death of bear 148 should be used as a learning opportunity.
“We can take this opportunity to do better and it gives me hope that so many people are wanting to be part of the solution and I want to be part of that solution too,” he said.
“The decisions that wildlife managers make, especially like moving bear 148; those weren't easy decisions and they don't make those decisions lightly.”
