EDMONTON - Alberta will have more effective ways to deter and respond to wildlife poaching, through the proposed Wildlife Amendment Act, introduced in the Alberta Legislature by Ivan Strang, MLA for West Yellowhead. Mr. Strang introduced the legislation on behalf of Mike Cardinal, Minister of Sustainable Resource Development.

"Our government is very concerned about wildlife poaching," said Minister Cardinal. "Many of the amendments relate to improved enforcement and will support the good work of our fish and wildlife officers, especially in carrying out their major investigations."

Highlights of the proposed act include:

* a substantial increase in penalties to help deter poaching (e.g., the maximum fine for a number of offences, including poaching grizzly bears, will be as high as $100,000);

* authority to seize and retain equipment used by poachers;

* capacity to cooperate with other jurisdictions to see that those convicted of serious wildlife violations elsewhere won't be able to get a hunting licence in Alberta, and vice versa; and

* authority to issue clean-up orders for situations where people leave out food or garbage that might attract wildlife - to help reduce wildlife-human conflicts.

The chair of the province's Endangered Species Conservation Committee commends Alberta's goal of increasing protection of wildlife through the act. "I'm encouraged that Alberta will gain expanded powers to fight poaching and improve enforcement," said Ivan Strang. "With the amendments, we'll have some of Canada's highest fines for poaching."

"Hunters and anglers are dedicated stewards and the Alberta Fish and Game Association approves of strong action against poachers," said Ray Makowecki, the group's president. The coordinator of the Report A Poacher program concurs. "Poachers rob us all of natural resources," said Darryl Kublik. "Report A Poacher would like to hear from anyone with knowledge of fish or wildlife violations." (Report A Poacher: 1-800-642-3800 toll-free. The program is administered by the Alberta Conservation Association.)

Contact:

Donna Babchishin
Communications
Alberta Sustainable Resource Development
Edmonton
(780) 427-8636

Pat Dunford
Head, Legislative and Advisory Services
Fish and Wildlife Division
Alberta Sustainable Resource Development
Edmonton
(780) 427-3300

BACKGROUNDER

Wildlife Amendment Act

Wildlife Enforcement

Wildlife enforcement is part of Alberta's broader goals of educating the public about wildlife issues and encouraging compliance with regulations. Management of wildlife enforcement activities in Alberta involves more than 200 Fish and Wildlife Division staff with Alberta Sustainable Resource Development - who work closely with biological staff and other personnel.

Highly trained fish and wildlife officers help educate the public about hunting and angling regulations, check for compliance and deal with problem wildlife, among other responsibilities.

The Wildlife Amendment Act will help officers in the field by giving them more effective ways to respond to wildlife violations, including:
* people who have not paid fines for angling violations will not be able to obtain a hunting licence until the angling fines have been taken care of;
* reciprocal agreements with other jurisdictions will ensure that those convicted of serious wildlife violations elsewhere won't be able to get a hunting licence in Alberta, and vice versa;
* officers will have authority to seize and retain equipment used by poachers; and
* advertising wildlife for sale would be considered an act of trafficking in wildlife.

Poaching

During major undercover operations conducted in the past 6 years, more than 180 individuals and 17 businesses were:
* charged with over 1,100 offences;
* assessed fines of about $1.1 million; and
* sentenced to approximately 20 years in jail.

Case Study: Operation Tamarack

Operation Tamarack was a 1.5-year undercover operation conducted in the Fort McMurray area, which resulted in numerous charges laid in April 2001. Offences related to the illegal hunting and sale of wildlife, including:

* hunting for the purpose of trafficking;

* hunting at night with a spotlight;

* hunting during closed season; and

* trafficking in wildlife.

A total of 173 charges and 27 people were involved in the operation. Those convicted were

assessed $254,820 in fines, 9 ? years imprisonment and 69 years in hunting licence suspensions.

HOW ALBERTA REDUCES BEAR-HUMAN CONFLICTS

WILDLIFE AMENDMENT ACT

Through one of the amendments in the proposed Wildlife Amendment Act, Alberta will have the authority to issue clean-up orders for situations where people leave out food or garbage that might attract wildlife. Bears present a particular safety concern for people and such clean-up orders will help protect them - as well as deer, elk and other species that can come into conflict with humans.

Ongoing efforts to reduce bear-human conflicts include the following:

Bear Response Teams
* Specially trained fish and wildlife officers with Alberta Sustainable Resource Development respond to problem bear cases through the Bear Response Team program, established in 1985.
* The Bear Response Team handles all problems with grizzly bears where control action is deemed necessary in any case where a bear has come into contact with humans. Team members are highly trained in dealing with grizzlies and black bears.
* The team primarily deals with property damage and bear maulings. Property damage includes livestock killed by bears.
* There are 14 team leaders, including one who is a Karelian bear dog handler. For each incident, team leaders activate a team of fish and wildlife officers to assist with a control action.

Signage and Trail Closures
* Officers with Alberta Sustainable Resource Development and Alberta Community Development post warning signs and close public hiking trails if there are public safety concerns about problem bears.

Aversive Conditioning
* Alberta Sustainable Resource Development and Alberta Community Development officers in southwestern Alberta use aversive conditioning techniques to condition bears to stay away from urban or high public use areas. These techniques include the use of "scare cracker" shells, bangers, rubber bullets, and specially trained Karelian bear dogs as negative stimuli.

Preventing Bear-Human Encounters near Berry Bushes
* A project is being conducted to test the use of a naturally occurring plant hormone on berry bushes that attract bears to communities in the Canmore-Bow Valley corridor. The hormone causes premature berry drop.
* Berry bushes in the Canmore-Bow Valley corridor are removed near high use public areas such as campgrounds and residential neighbourhoods.

Fencing Dumps and Landfills
* Alberta works with municipalities to ensure that garbage dumps are fenced, or that access to landfills is prevented by electric barriers - to stop bears from using dumps as food sources, e.g., the Swan Hills Landfill site.
* Similarly, the Town of Canmore discontinued curbside garbage pick up to significantly reduce bear problems in the town.

Educating Industry and Albertans
* Alberta Sustainable Resource Development presents bear awareness programs in communities and works with off-highway vehicle organizations to promote bear awareness and responsible use of trails.
* Alberta encourages industry to incinerate garbage at remote industrial sites to avoid attracting bears to the area.

Working with Industry on Access
* When it comes to industrial development on Crown lands, Alberta Sustainable Resource Development reviews plans for proposed developments (e.g., timber harvest, oil wells, access roads, etc.) that may affect important bear habitat, such as dens and prime feeding areas. This is especially true for grizzly habitat.
* If plans for development border on important habitat, whenever possible, the department works with developers to relocate sites (and/or encourage industry to use directional drilling when it comes to oil and gas) and reroute roads.
* The department may also ask for regulated access by developers if an area includes particularly good bear habitat. Regulated access includes things like industry being required to use locking gates in certain areas.

Reclamation
* Industrial access roads are being reclaimed in cooperation with industry.

Pilot Projects
* Various methods are being tested to keep bears from coming into conflict with humans; e.g., temporary feeding sites are established in chronic problem areas to prevent conflicts with livestock producers.

Problem bear statistics
The 2003-04 fiscal year continues until March 31, 2004, but 2,287 problem bear incidents had already been reported as of early November 2003. (Of these, 284 involved grizzlies.)