$13,000 fine for killing grizzly is ‘scandalous’

TRACKING COLLAR

No. 141 in Jasper National Park had stopped working near Edson, about 200 kilometres west of Edmonton.

It was determined the three-year-old male grizzly, which weighed about 250 pounds, had been shot and killed.

Motkoski told researchers he shot the bear, but the Crown prosecutor withdrew the charge of hunting wildlife in a closed season and providing a false or misleading statement.

A spokesperson for the province said the charges were withdrawn because some of the evidence did not suggest a reasonable likelihood of conviction.

Another man, John Peter Grant of Fort McMurray, pleaded guilty on Feb. 2 to unlawful possession of wildlife related to the death of the same bear and was fined a total of $6,000.

Some say the fines are too low.

“It’s absolutely scandalous,” said Jill Seaton, chair of the Jasper Environmental Association. “The grizzly bear in Alberta is a threatened species.”

Gordon Stenhouse, a scientist with the fRI Research Grizzly Bear Program, said he also had higher expectations.

“I thought there would be a different outcome,” he said, noting the maximum fine is $100,000.

Grizzly bears were listed as threatened in Alberta in 2010 when it was determined there were only about 700 left. The numbers led to a recovery strategy aimed at reducing conflicts between bears and people.

Poaching remains a problem in Alberta, with statistics showing at least 39 grizzly bears have been killed illegally since a legal hunt ended in 2005.

Bear No. 141 was considered important because he was fitted with a GPS collar in Jasper and left the park within a few weeks.

“It’s quite rare that a bear in Jasper takes off,” said Stenhouse.

Officials with Jasper National Park declined to comment.

Stenhouse said that they lost valuable research with the death of the bear.

No. 141 “was one of a very few bears that we have seen make long-distance movements from Jasper National