Provincial authorities are currently probing a series of incidents involving the illegal killing of grizzly bears in Alberta. According to reports, Alberta’s Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Services is actively looking into the deaths of four grizzly bears at different sites across the province.
One of the incidents involved the discovery of a dead grizzly bear on September 30, located approximately 20 kilometers north of Swan Hills, northwest of Edmonton. The following day, on October 1, another grizzly bear was found deceased in a secluded area between Little Smoky and Fox Creek, with all four paws missing.
These instances follow previous cases where two grizzly bears were shot and killed in June near Sundre, about 95 kilometers northwest of Calgary. Additionally, earlier this year in March, the province sought public assistance in a poaching investigation after a grizzly bear was found dead from a gunshot wound in November 2025.
The province emphasized its serious stance against the illegal killing of grizzly bears, highlighting that hunting grizzlies has been prohibited in Alberta since 2006, except for Indigenous hunters engaging in subsistence or cultural harvesting.
Individuals with any information on these poaching incidents or other wildlife-related offenses are urged to contact the Report-A-Poacher line or submit reports online on alberta.ca/report-poacher. Informants providing details that lead to charges being filed may be eligible for a cash reward under the Report-A-Poacher program.
Renowned biologist Gordon Stenhouse, known for his research on Alberta’s grizzly bear population, expressed disappointment at the recent incidents, citing them as a display of disregard and disrespect for wildlife. Stenhouse pointed out that the number of poached bears discovered is likely just a fraction of the actual occurrences, indicating a larger issue at hand.
Experts, including University of Alberta ecology professor Mark Boyce and bear safety advocate Kim Titchener, emphasized the need for better co-existence strategies between humans and bears in the region. Titchener highlighted the importance of prioritizing resources like electric fencing and bear-resistant containers to mitigate conflicts rather than resorting to lethal measures.
The Alberta government has allocated funds to prevent human-carnivore conflicts and supports BearSmart programs to minimize risks and reduce grizzly bear deaths in the province. Despite estimates suggesting around 1,000 grizzlies in Alberta currently, a comprehensive provincial grizzly bear population study has not been conducted since 2018.