“Alberta Beef Producers has resolved to lobby the government to provide livestock owners and landowners with permits, allowing them to kill a dangerous grizzly without being charged,” said Brad Dubeau, the organization’s general manager.

“There’s a precedent in this in the way we currently deal with problem coyotes. A permit is only issued after a producer confirms livestock kills or property damage.”

Delegates at the group’s annual meeting in March passed a resolution asking the province to issue permits in those circumstances — and while the problem is most acute in the southwest, there were lots of stories about problem bears, Dubeau said.

• [READ MORE] When a predator attacks, wildlife officers need to solve the whodunit

Many say they are seeing more grizzlies on their land in recent years. Cow-calf producer Tony Bruder is one of them.

“My parents had never seen a grizzly bear on our land,” said the third-generation rancher, who also has a small grain operation in the Twin Butte area south of Pincher Creek.

“In 1997, we started having a lot of trouble with grizzly bears. We went from never having seen a grizzly bear on our place to averaging between 10 to 15 grizzlies a year.”

Not all of them are a problem, he is quick to add.

“Our family loves seeing a bear on our place,” he said. “It’s amazing — I still get goosebumps when I see one. But with that said, I shouldn’t be expected to lose livestock and have property damage just because we have bears on our place, and that’s what the situation is.”

Grizzlies are opportunistic omnivores and Bruder said he has seen them eat stored seed and even garden vegetables. But those that lose their fear of humans will not only go after livestock, but also damage property and even tear buildings apart, he said.

• [READ MORE] The bear facts: Farming with grizzly bears in your area

Since 2000, killing grizzly bears has not been allowed and there have been numerous efforts to assist landowners with mitigation efforts.

In 2010, the Drywood Yarrow Conservation Partnership (a watershed group) worked with Alberta Environment and Parks to get grants for electric fencing to keep bears out of yards and away from livestock. Some producers also replaced their wooden grain bins with metal ones.

After awhile, this initiative grew too big for the watershed group and so it passed the work to the Waterton Biosphere Reserve Association, which set up the Carnivores and Communities program. Bruder was a contractor with the working group overseeing the effort and shared his bear mitigation experiences with landowners in other areas, from Rocky Mountain House to Grande Prairie, and into B.C.

A host of measures have been taken, he said, including using shipping containers to store feed and mineral tubs, bear-proof bins, and electric fences along with a trapping program for bears that persistently cause damage.

“We worked with people electrifying off their chickens and we’ve done a lot of work for people with sheep and goats,” he said.

But even with all these efforts, some grizzlies continue to kill livestock and cause property damage.

And while Bruder knows there is tremendous public affection for these iconic animals, the view from afar is much different than from up close, he said.

“The grizzly bear situation is being fed by special interest groups that don’t have people who actually live on the landscape… They have no idea what it is like to actually live with these large carnivores and the problems that come with them.”

• [CANADIAN CATTLEMEN] Spring calving heralds beginning of predator season

And often, the problems with rogue bears get worse over time, he added.

“Imagine, you’ve got a female with no respect for humans or human property, raising cubs and teaching cubs that that’s OK,” he said.

Moreover, you can’t mitigate the problems with large carnivores (which also include black bears, cougars and wolves) when cattle are on summer pasture.

“When we have a bear coming in and killing our livestock, that’s going to draw in other bears that didn’t necessarily kill that animal,” said Bruder. “When Fish and Wildlife tries to trap, it’s trying to trap the bear that killed the livestock. (But) because there are other bears around, there’s an 80 per cent chance it’s going to catch a bear that isn’t a problem.”

Moreover, many problem bears become “trap smart,” he said.

In one instance, one bear (that had been positively identified) killed 20 different cattle across a number of properties in a season, but Fish and Wildlife officers couldn’t go out and shoot the animal, and neither could the landowners, said Bruder. Instead, the officers set traps, but only caught other bears that were feeding on the remains of the problem bear’s kills.

“They didn’t have the ability to deal with the specific bear, to take it out of the system, to mitigate the problem,” said Bruder. “In that same time, they caught many other bears, causing stress on those bears that wasn’t needed.”

Bear relocation can also be problematic. Sometimes bears will be moved to areas without people or livestock. But in other cases, a bear caught in the Rocky Mountain House area, for example, might just be moved to the Pincher Creek area.

“They’re just moving back and forth. They are trying to get bears out of certain areas,” he said.

“I do not believe all bears are the problem. It’s just a small percentage of bears that are a problem.”

The matter of killing problem bears is not a black and white issue, said southwestern Alberta cattle rancher Jeff Bectell, co-ordinator for the Carnivores and Communities Program. There has been some interest in the concept of a farmer killing an identified problem bear.

“Not every landowner would feel comfortable in that position, but some certainly would,” he said. “I think there’s fairly broad-based agreement that if a bear is really becoming a problem, killing livestock on a regular basis, that the best thing to do is to remove that bear, not keep it around or even relocate it.”

– With files from James Snell

The post Total ban on killing grizzly bears isn’t working, say cattle producers appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The Clearwater County rancher has seen bears in his yard looking in the calf sheds, but has never had a calf taken. Wolves, however, have taken two or three animals while cougars — which are out there but rarely seen — have not taken any so far.

There are more predators in his area, which Duncan puts down to the fact there are fewer farms and people than there once were. So Duncan, a former biologist, has made adjustments — including for his personal safety.

“I’m a lot more careful at night than I used to be when I go outside. I take a lot brighter flashlight and take my dog with me,” he said. “When you get west of Highway 22, the wildlife gets a lot bigger. We’re in the fringe area between the Crown land and the deeded land. It’s a very diverse habitat. There’s the trees, there are open areas, and it’s that kind of cover that makes some of the best kind of wildlife habitat as well.”

• Read more: Too close for comfort: Farmers recount grizzly bear encounter

When it comes to protecting his livestock, he looks at his operation from their hungry eyes.

“Man-made food sources can be more nutritious and higher than supply in the wild,” he said during a recent West County Ag Tour. “That includes things like the granaries, the silage, and the livestock — especially the ones that are penned up.

“That’s just like the Tim Hortons or McDonald’s for a bear.”

Protection tips

Duncan offered several tips for those who are seeing more predators on their farm — something he expects will happen more often as bear and wolf populations in the ‘fringe areas’ are increasing, which pushes the animals farther east.

“In the last 10 or 15 years, I’ve seen a lot more,” he said. “Bears historically were a Prairie animal. They were pushed and hunted into the mountains and that was what was left.”

To deter bears, replace any of those old wooden granaries with steel bins, but if the bin contains treated seed, leave the door open. That’s because bears have good memories (something that works against you if you inadvertently provide a tasty meal).

That’s why Duncan takes care to ensure he’s composting deadstock properly, usually by composting it in the manure pile.

He recommends keeping cattle in one large group. He rotates through fairly small pastures, with off-site watering and keeps the herd constantly moving. In some cases, he uses electric fencing.

“I am visible and leaving my scent out there as well, and the horses are out with me, and that kind of thing,” he said.

He calves close to home and keeps the calves in a corral close to the barn for two to three days. When the calves go out, they go with the herd.

Duncan also recommends trail cameras for producers who want to know what’s happening on their land at night, when bears are often out.

It takes a community

People need to know bears’ strengths, said Chiara Feder, a wildlife biologist with Alberta Sustainable Resource Development.

“They are intelligent. They are powerful. They learn very well,” she said. “They have an amazing sense of direction and once they learn a behaviour, right or wrong, they repeat it as long as the benefit of that behaviour fits.”

Male bears tend to migrate in the spring as they need about 25,000 calories a day after emerging from their dens.

“If he does not acquire as much fat and as much weight, he’s not going to make it through the winter,” said Feder. “We don’t see as many females in the spring, we see them back in the fall, because male bears are going to try and kill the cubs. So female bears are going to be in places where there are fewer predators.”

The Alberta government doesn’t know how many bears there are in the province since it stopped collaring them, she said. If you see a bear on your property, you should call Fish and Wildlife.

“Think about what you can do to prevent attractants and things that can be consumed on your farm,” said Feder. “You need to have a community mindset. You can be the best person preventing your attractant. But if your neighbour is not, well, then you still have a problem.”

Putting electric fencing around calving areas or beehives can be expensive, but the cost of losing them to a bear can be even more costly, she added.

The post The bear facts: Farming with grizzly bears in your area appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The couple has a sheep farm in Clearwater County and lamb about 200 head.

“About four years ago, we had a grizzly here, but we never did catch him,” said Irene Korth

But things escalated this April, on a day the Korths were lambing on one side of the barn. They had some ewe lambs nearby, and penned lambs up at the house. They came back to their farm from an errand, fed the penned lambs, and got up at about 4 a.m. to see if any ewes needed help. They found one lamb missing.

“I did my usual check. The next morning, we went out and found a penned lamb halfway down to the spring, and three lambs killed,” said Korth.

• Read more: The bear facts: Farming with grizzly bears in your area

They knew immediately that they had a grizzly bear on their farm. Fish and Wildlife came out and put traps around because the bear had tried to break into the grain feeder as well.

About 10 days later, the Korths’ dog started barking and “going crazy.”

“I’ve never heard the dog act that way,” said Korth.

The bear, a big grizzly about four or five years old, walked past their house. The Korths got into their truck, drove by and saw that he had busted one of their chutes and severely injured a ewe, who had to be put down.

They found two more dead lambs the next day.

“We didn’t see anything else and then the dog started barking. Sure enough, we put the light out and the bear was there,” said Korth.

Fish and Wildlife set a single snare away from the sheep pens. The next night, the bear came back, trashed the snare and didn’t get caught. Wildlife officials returned and set several snares throughout the trees.

“He came beside and he kicked the snare out. They had it on video of him going in and out five times before he finally got caught in the back which was hooked around the big old tree,” said Korth.

Angered at being captured, the bear clawed all the bark off the tree. But Fish and Wildlife couldn’t come until the daytime because of safety reasons.

“We could hear him hollering back at the house,” Korth said.

She added that it was hair raising to be lambing and caring for their sheep, knowing a grizzly had made their farm his hunting ground. All in all, the bear killed nine of their sheep.

Since grizzly bears are a threatened species, it was released in another area.

The post Too close for comfort: Farmers recount grizzly bear encounter appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Bears prefer to be left alone, but tragedies do happen. It was the death of a woman attacked by a grizzly bear in Canmore in 2005 that led to the creation of the Bearsmart program.

The voluntary program is a partnership between citizens, local and provincial governments and other stakeholders.

The first step is making people aware of the danger, said Chiara Feder, Alberta Environment and Parks wildlife biologist and Bearsmart program co-ordinator for the North Saskatchewan and Red Deer region.

“It was shocking for me in 2008 when a hunter got killed by a sow with three cubs in the Sundre area,” said Feder. “People were totally unaware that they were in bear country. So our biggest project there was to build awareness.”

But the program in the Sundre area has expanded over the years, such as providing electric fences.

“We are starting to work with ranchers and farmers and honey producers to put in place measures that prevent the conflict before the conflict actually starts,” said Feder.

That’s key because bears have long memories and will return to an area where they once found food (such as garbage, beehives, or a carcass) for up to five years.

Deadstock is a huge attractant for bears and other predators, and the problem increased after BSE hit in 2003 and carcass disposal became more costly.

Composting livestock is an effective way to remove deadstock, and it’s become popular in southern Alberta and Montana, both of which have high grizzly bear populations. When Montana began composting deadstock and roadkill, authorities saw a 92 per cent reduction of conflict between bears and humans within two seasons.

• More on the Alberta Farmer: Could a cement mixer have a place on your operation?

Bearsmart will work with interested individuals and community groups who want to implement projects.

“We can do education and awareness and we also do projects like Marty Winchell’s (deadstock composting),” said Feder.

In Clearwater County, Bear-smart has provided courses and workshops, informational sessions to recreation enthusiasts, and entered partnerships to implement carcass disposal and waste management pro-jects.

For more info on starting a Bearsmart project, contact Fish and Wildlife at 310-000 or Chiara Feder at 403-845-8303 or chiara.feder@gov.ab.ca. Bear information for agricultural producers can be found at aep.alberta.ca.

The post Preventing conflicts with bears before they start appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

But that’s not easy if, like Marty Winchell, you’re raising sheep, pigs, laying hens and bees, as well as custom grazing cattle.

Which is why there’s an old cement mixer sitting in his yard. His mixer is sans the truck, which in hindsight was a mistake because he could have picked up an entire unit at auction for as little as $2,000.

“Had I known what I know now, I would have bought a cement truck, drove it here, sold the truck and would have been a lot further ahead,” joked the producer from Rocky Mountain House.

Still, he’s pleased with his investment, which has taken on a new life for composting deadstock. The process really isn’t much different than what homeowners do in their backyard and is a big improvement on his old method.

“We used to compost our birds with manure, but it was an attractant for coyotes,” said Winchell, who is also an agricultural program supervisor with Clearwater County Agricultural Services and Landcare.

Coyotes and foxes are a common sight in the area, and he’s also seen mountain lions and lynxes. His parents even had bears licking their barbecue.

• More on the Alberta Farmer: Preventing conflicts with bears before they start

Winchell decided to use a cement mixer after seeing a similar system in Pincher Creek. He tapped into Bearsmart, a provincial government program, for some funding for the purchase of the cement mixer, and paid for the transportation and setup costs on his own. He has 300 laying hens, and since starting composting in late July is saving 50 cents on the pickup and rendering of every spent hen.

In the first few weeks of operation, he put in the equivalent of two yards of protein waste (spent hens and several dead lambs) and added about four yards of carbon mix (which includes straw, egg waste, shavings, and paper). The right balance between carbon and nitrogen reduces smell and achieves optimum composting. He spins the compost mechanically every once in a while, and adds water to the mixture.

“Every time I turn it at night, when I just walk up to it and put my hand on the top and bottom, you can feel it cooking,” Winchell told a group during the West County Ag tour last month.

“It gets plenty hot in there. In the evening, when I spin it, steam comes billowing out.”

It’s impressive how quickly deadstock breaks down, he said, adding he is going to try to compost through the winter in hopes enough heat will be generated to keep it going.

The process does attract flies, but not huge numbers. He’s also going to limit where the compost is used because it contains specified risk material from sheep, and he wants to minimize the potential risk of prion diseases. He also doesn’t compost roadkill or animals from other farms because he doesn’t want to bring potential diseases onto his farm.

The post Could a cement mixer have a place on your operation? appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“(Bears have) been a problem that the community has grappled with,” said Jeff Bectell, chair of the Waterton Biosphere Reserve Association in Pincher Creek.

“Any time a community is facing issues, it really feels good when they know people understand… and are actually trying to help in solving those concerns.”

The association will host a series of workshops in June for farm families in the Cardston and Pincher Creek areas to cover general bear safety and behaviour. They will also offer some hands-on training on using bear spray — albeit without the bears or real spray. A bear spray-style canister containing an inert gas is used instead, but it’s good practice, said Bectell.

“They can actually pull it out of the holster, point it at a target, and see… how it works.”

Every family will get a canister of real spray so they “have a tool that they know how to use and maybe feel a little bit safer.”

Bears have become a growing cause for concern in southwestern Alberta over the past decade. University of Alberta research found 51 grizzly bears in 2011 and 122 a year later. The actual number is well north of 130, said Bectell.

“(This research) has really supported what the community has been saying, that grizzly bear numbers have been increasing in this area. That’s part of the reason we’re seeing an increase in conflict.”

• More from the Alberta Farmer Express: Changes sought for wildlife predator compensation program

In the area where Bectell ranches near Cardston, there were four livestock kills and two bear incidents in farmyards in a two-week period in April.

“Large carnivores and people should both have a place in the landscape,” he said. “Most people don’t want to see bears or wolves completely gone.”

The association has other programs to reduce the potential of conflict between farmers and ranchers and large carnivores. This includes bear-proofing grain bins, removing deadstock, and installing electric fencing. But you can only reduce the chance of a problem, not completely eliminate it, he said.

“Everything on a farm is a bear attractant,” said Bectell. “It’s not practical to imagine that we’re not going to have anything that might let bears be a problem.”

Bectell has lost livestock to bears in the past, and while he hasn’t had an aggressive encounter with the animals, he calls living with them “nerve-racking.”

“We just didn’t have bears on my farm when I was a boy,” he said. “Places I used to go and ride a horse when I was a kid, I’m a little nervous to let my kids ride in those locations.”

Producers need to be more “bear aware,” he said.

“We’re just trying to help people who are having problems to deal with these problems in a proactive way.”

The farm safety project is funded by Farm Credit Canada, which partners with the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association to deliver the AgSafety Fund, which doles out $100,000 across Canada every year to non-profit groups for agriculture safety programs.

This year, four Alberta projects received funding. The others are a one-day Safety Day in the northern hamlet of Bezanson, a series of farm safety workshops hosted by the Battle River Research Group in east-central Alberta, and a youth safety training session in the southern Alberta village of Delia.

The post Fears raised by growing bear numbers appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.