Re: Letter: Someone needs to advocate for the bear
I would like to clarify that the bear pictures were taken on our quarter section and not in the Cougar Creek subdivision. I was the developer of the subdivision but we do not live there. However, this subdivision and several others as noted in the article Sundre-area residents want black bear relocated are directly adjacent to our quarter section.
Our quarter, now mostly used as a rental horse pasture, includes 50 acres of mature spruce forest with lots of farm and natural food sources as well as secluded habitat for wild game.
It is only a half mile (about one kilometre) from the Red Deer River, a natural wildlife corridor to the West Country, with lots of natural food sources there as well.
We have seen several cougars over the years and had one kill a deer in our corrals; and yes, the subdivision name was in honour of those cougars.
We too, are advocates for the bear and that was the reason we contacted Fish and Wildlife to relocate it – to protect it and the local residents as well.
I have hunted for many years from Alaska to eastern U.S. and during that time have seen and hunted many bear, both grizzlies and black bear. I can make a pretty good guess of what a 500-pound bear looks like.
He was fat and well fed, large for Alberta but typical of one getting ready for hibernation and he did not get that way eating only garbage.
My concern was that he was likely also wandering around the subdivisions. Our woods that the bear came through are only 20 metres from at least nine of the Cougar Creek acreages.
Ken Stauffer,
Mountain View County
