A sow and a larger cub believed to have been responsible for the ‘killing spree’ were trapped in the area
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Members of a southern Alberta Hutterite colony are still in shock after grizzly bears killed 22 of their sheep in an attack they call extremely rare in its severity.
Sometime Monday night or early Tuesday morning, the bears gained access to a corral containing about 50 sheep on the Spring Point Colony 40 kilometres west of Fort Macleod and went on a rampage, said George Walter, the group’s financial secretary.
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“In a small corral, they jumped in and went on a killing spree,” he said. “It was devastating, we’ve never seen anything like it.”
Very little of the sheep — which included five lambs — were eaten by the grizzlies, said Walter, whose colony counts about 700 head of sheep.
“They just ripped out their stomachs and left them,” he said.
A border collie that oversees the sheep was clearly traumatized by the attack, said Walter.
“He had a heck of a time getting out of his kennel, he was so frightened.”
On Thursday morning, a sow and a larger cub believed to have been responsible were trapped by Alberta Fish and Game officers about a kilometre from the colony, said Walter, while another cub was still being sought.
After the attack, he said he learned a neighbour had lost a few head of livestock to bears in recent weeks.
The bears likely wandered up a nearby creek where the colony is located at the foot of the Porcupine Hills, a spot where children often frequent.
“Kids are often playing down there, it’s a scary thing,” said Walter.
Grizzlies protected by hunting moratorium
His brother, Mike Walter said he had to put down several badly injured sheep attacked by bears who had climbed over a 4-foot fence to access the corral.
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The livestock loss, he said, was nearly $10,000, though he noted such costs are covered by the province.
Ranchers and bears have co-existed, often uneasily, in southern Alberta and communities have adopted programs to improve that balance.
Some livestock producers say they favour having the right to shoot grizzlies, which have been protected by a hunting moratorium in Alberta since 2006 in an effort to resurrect their numbers.
Wildlife experts say that appears to have worked, with their population growing from between 700 and 800 in 2010 to between 900 and 1,150 now.
The presence of grizzlies in the colony’s area has increased significantly, said Mike Walter, who favours a limited hunt there.
“There’s enough of them around here — 20 years ago, you could hardly see one, we’re even cautious enough to take a rifle along,” he said.
“We should take out a few, (the province) should put out a certain amount of hunting tags.”
High-casualty attacks ‘rare and isolated’
Former fish and game officer John Clarke said such high-casualty incidents are “rare and isolated.”
“This will rattle everybody who’ll think we need to kill more bears, but we have a black bear season and that hasn’t stopped black bear attacks,” said Clarke, who now operates a bear safety consulting business in the Crowsnest Pass.
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“Some bears will walk right through herds of cows and sheep and don’t touch them.”
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From his experience as a wildlife officer for more than 30 years, he said the sow will be relocated while it’s likely any male cub will be destroyed.
Investigators need to determine which animals were actually directly killed by the bears, adding he’s seen some instances where cowering sheep suffocated each other in a bid to escape.
Individual problem bears can easily be identified by their pattern of behaviour, said Clarke.
And he said ranchers need to take precautions to eliminate incidents of opportunity for predators.
“You can do things like electrify fences, have corrals closer to your house, keep animals in your barn,” he said.
Walter said they’re looking at some of those measures.
“We’ve got a lot of stuff to think about,” he said.
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