Canada

The Alberta Fish and Game Association wants the province to bring back a grizzly bear hunt in areas where it says there are too many of the animals.

The government suspended the hunt in 2006 over fears of dwindling numbers and declared grizzlies a threatened species in 2010.

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The association, which represents about 24,000 hunters and anglers, has passed two resolutions calling for a new, limited hunt.

"It is only where there is a harvestable excess of grizzly bears — where they are causing problems, where they are spreading out beyond their territory because of no hunting anymore," association president Gord Poirier said Wednesday.

"There still has to be protection for the grizzly bears where the population is low."

Poirier said Alberta could allow a limited hunt without removing grizzlies from the threatened species list.

He said such a hunt could be restricted to areas such as southwest Alberta and be open only to residents of the province.

Alberta's current five-year grizzly recovery plan is to expire April 1.

The association is to present its resolutions to Environment Minister Diana McQueen in the next few weeks.

Part of the push for a renewed hunt is coming from ranchers who live in southwest Alberta. They say they are seeing more bears and are worried about their livestock and the safety of their families.

"There appears to be enough grizzly bears causing quite a few problems," Poirier said. "Last year one guy had nine grizzly bears in his yard at one time."

Alberta Environment spokeswoman Nikki Booth said the government will review the association's resolutions and has heard from ranchers who want a grizzly hunt, but there are no plans to change its policy.

"Right now we aren't considering any sort of grizzly hunt," she said. "We are aware there have been requests from different groups indicating that they would like one, but right now what we are trying to do is work on a number of other measures."