Outdoor Spirit Group

Attack of the Grizzly, or Attack of the Humans?

Recent news saw the death of Robert Wagner, an avid hunter and angler, and Didsbury local. Wagner was out on a typical hunting excursion on September 29th, but failed to return home. After a search and rescue party found and identified Wagner's body, tests confirmed that he was mauled by a grizzly bear. Alberta fish and wildlife officers have since hunted and killed the offending bear and are looking for her cubs. Plans are to take the cubs into custody and raise them in captivity.

Friends and family of Wagner pegged him as a man with a great love for the outdoors (Massinon). Some would enthusiastically say that he died doing what he loved. Apparently this outlook of the situation is somewhat optimistic, or even dismissive. Consider that the mother bear was simply protecting its young, which is a common human instinct. Also consider that it is legal to use force, lethal if necessary, in a self defence situation. Many questions arise whenever the topic of wildlife interaction is brought up. And this is not to say that ethics were not considered when the decision was made to end the bear's life, but there is a large population that would almost certainly deem the loss of another female grizzly very unnecessary.

If one takes the time to simply look at the numbers, they would quickly find that there have been only four grizzly related deaths in five years (Sun). This means that more people must die walking to the grocery store than are killed by grizzly bears! Compared to the ammount of people killed in motor vehicle accidents, that number is virtually microscopic. The question that comes to mind is: why are we so concerned with the death of one man? It could be because it was an animal related death, or just because bears are such a touchy subject.

"Many people wanted to know why they weren’t notified of the danger once it was determined that Wagner had been mauled" (Sun). This is exactly what people don't realize about the wilderness. It is an inherently dangerous place, and we are not necessarily welcome there; especially if we don't exercise proper leave no trace techniques. People have to realize that, to these animals, we are the intruders, and they will protect their offspring and space if necessary.

Alberta Sustainable Resource Development (ASRD) has long been a governing body in areas of fish and wildlife, land, and forest areas with regard to usage, upkeep, regulation, and sustenance. They are a great resource to find out what types of risks are involved in the outdoors during any activity, and provide plenty of information on how to prepare, and what to do should a situation arise. What they do not do is personally educate and certify all individuals that travel into wilderness areas. Onus is placed on the individual to be prepared and plan for the inherent situation.

This article touches on a couple of the fundamental areas of outdoor leadership. For example, by killing the bear, the whole philosophy of outdoor leadership is basically disregarded. One of the fundamental ideas here is that people should learn to appreciate and respect the outdoors and the environment with as little impact as possible. As outdoor leaders, ASRD should practise this most basic and essential quality religiously.

Despite this slip up however, the ASRD (including the Fish & Wildlife department) is a very useful resource in the outdoor leadership industry, as mentioned above. Not only do they serve to regulate and protect the public, they provide very useful historical data and profiles of natural areas. Their website alone is a bottomless resource for beginner adventurers, and seasoned researchers alike, providing information on everything from bear attacks to land surveys to forest fire prevention. With such a beneficial organization, it is hard to believe they would make such a decision regarding such an important and threatened species. Unnecessary losses like this reinforce the idea that we must start acting like a part of this environment, otherwise it (or we) may not last much longer.

~Yuri Lortscher

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Works Consulted

Alberta Sustainable Resources Development. 2008. Government of Alberta. 10/21/08.
[ http://srd.alberta.ca/ ]

Massinon, Stephane. “Hunter's death shocks friends he often helped.” Calgary Herald. 10/04/08.Canada.com Network. 10/16/08.
[ http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/city/story.html?id=f9175c68-5b9f-40f7-a06b-44b39d902ab6 ].

"West-central Albertans afraid after grizzly kills hunter." Edmonton Sun. 10/11/08. Edmontonsun.com. 10/16/08
[ http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Alberta/2008/10/11/7055086.html ]