Alberta environmentalists oppose possible crane, swan hunting season

EDMONTON

Alberta environmentalists are opposing the provincial government’s consideration of a hunting season for sandhill cranes and tundra swans.

“There doesn’t seem to be the numbers behind it to justify it,” said Nissa Pettersen of the Alberta Wilderness Association.

“The scientific evidence isn’t really available to suggest that this would be a sustainable hunt.”

The issue arose again – Alberta decided against sandhill crane hunts in 2009, 2013 and 2014 – after the Canadian Wildlife

Service proposed in December that the province open a fall sandhill season.

“The proposed sandhill crane season would provide a new hunting opportunity in Alberta and provide a mechanism to deal with crop depredation issues caused by cranes,” the report says.

“This has been the subject of repeated requests by both resident and non-resident hunters as well as Alberta agricultural producers.”

Provincial Environment Minister Jason Nixon told the magazine Alberta Outdoorsmen that he has asked his department to look into seasons for both cranes and tundra swans.

“I have challenged my department to open a season (for cranes),” he was quoted as saying in the March issue.

“There are some concerns about the overlap of tundra swans and trumpeter swans in Alberta, but I have challenged my staff to come back with options.”

Nixon’s department declined to elaborate on his remarks.

The wildlife service report does not include a proposal to allow a tundra swan hunt.

Populations of both birds – among North America’s largest, standing over a metre tall with two-metre wingspans – are considered healthy. There are over

600,000 sandhill cranes and 140,000 tundra swans across North America.