WARNING: This story contains graphic images of grizzly bears killed by poachers.
Provincial officials are investigating multiple cases of poachers killing grizzly bears in Alberta.
The province told CBC News that Alberta Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Services is investigating the illegal killings of four grizzly bears at three separate locations.
One grizzly bear was found shot dead Sept. 30, along a road about 20 kilometres north of Swan Hills, northwest of Edmonton.
The next day on Oct. 1, another grizzly was found dead in a remote area between Little Smoky and Fox Creek. All four of the bear’s paws had been removed.
It comes after two grizzly bears were found shot dead in June along a road near Sundre, about 95 kilometres northwest of Calgary.
And in March of this year, the province announced it was seeking public assistance in a poaching investigation after a grizzly bear was found dead from a gunshot wound in November 2025.
“The illegal killing of any grizzly bear is taken seriously,” the province told CBC News in a statement.
This grizzly bear was found dead off Deep Valley Road between Little Smoky and Fox Creek in northern Alberta on Oct. 1. The bear had been shot and moved off the main trail, and all four of its paws had been removed. (Alberta Fish and Wildlife Enforcement/Facebook)
Hunting grizzlies has been banned in Alberta since 2006, with the exception of harvesting by Indigenous hunters for subsistence or cultural purposes.
The province is asking that anyone with information about these poaching incidents or other suspected wildlife offences contact the Report-A-Poacher line or submit a report online at alberta.ca/report-poacher.
Through the province’s Report-A-Poacher program, a tipster who provides information leading to charges being laid could be eligible for a cash reward.
Gordon Stenhouse, the biologist behind much of Alberta’s grizzly bear population research, said shooting grizzly bears and abandoning their bodies is “disappointing” but doesn’t surprise him, as “people have been doing that for a long time.”
“To shoot and leave any animal, and especially a grizzly bear, a threatened species, shows a disregard and disrespect for wildlife,” he said.
This grizzly bear was found shot dead on Sept. 30, about 20 kilometres north of Swan Hills in northern Alberta. (Alberta Fish and Wildlife Enforcement/Facebook)
Stenhouse said it’s likely the number of bears found after being poached is “probably only a fraction of what’s actually happening.”
“I think there’s lots of bears that are never found,” he said.
The Alberta government keeps track of human-caused grizzly bear mortality. From 2020 to 2025, there were 28 documented cases of grizzly bears killed illegally — about 17 per cent of grizzly bear deaths during that time. Other leading causes of grizzly bear mortality include being killed by the province and struck by vehicles.
Grizzly bears have been a threatened species in Alberta since 2010.
University of Alberta ecology professor Mark Boyce said he doesn’t consider poaching “a major issue” when it comes to grizzly bear conservation, but he considers these latest incidents “really unfortunate.”
“There’s a black market for grizzly bear paws,” he said. “It’s highly illegal, but poaching the bear was highly illegal in the first place.”
A file photo of Mark Boyce, ecology professor and Alberta Conservation Association chair in fisheries and wildlife at the University of Alberta. (BoompaCanada/Flickr)
In addition to financial motivation, Boyce said poaching can happen because people hate or fear grizzly bears.
Bear Safety and More founder Kim Titchener says she considers poaching a symptom of a larger conflict between humans and bears struggling to share the landscape.
“We do live with grizzly bears in Alberta,” Titchener said. “When they come into communities, walk onto a golf course, go onto a rancher’s land … we start to see conflicts with these animals.”
“For some people, it creates a lot of fear and they want to get rid of bears. For other people, they want to try to live with these animals.”
Titchener says communities in and around bear country should prioritize resources such as electric fencing, guard dogs and bear-resistant containers over killing grizzly bears.
“You can go and shoot and kill that bear that is killing your chickens, but another bear is just going to show up and eat your chickens too,” she said. “So you really need to address the cause of this.”
The Alberta government announced in 2024 it would invest $700,000 over five years to help keep large carnivores away from rural properties in southwestern Alberta, including setting up electric fencing, upgrading grain bins and removing dead livestock.
The province supports BearSmart programs across Alberta in an effort to minimize the risk of human-wildlife conflict and reduce grizzly bear deaths.
The province estimates there are about 1,000 grizzlies in Alberta today, though there hasn’t been a provincial grizzly bear population study since 2018.
