Suspense in Grizzly Bear hunt

Three-year ban meant to assess population size.Alberta's grizzly bear hunt has been cancelled for the first time after the province announced a three-year moratorium Friday.The move comes four years after scientists and environmentalists began calling for the government to halt the annual hunt.

They say the animals' survival in Alberta is in peril. The province had maintained there were enough grizzlies to sustain a small hunt.On Friday, however, the government said it doesn't have a reliable estimate of how many grizzlies remain in Alberta, and it is suspending the hunt until 2009.

At that time, the province expects to have a population count. A decision on whether to reinstate the hunt will be made then.For now, the grizzly will remain a big game animal and won't be classified as threatened, a recommendation made to the government in 2002.Hunters have been restricted from targeting female grizzlies, but of the 10 bears killed by hunters last year, four were females; the year before, two of the six killed were females.

Grizzly bears don't produce many cubs. Females are generally not sexually mature until they are seven years old. When they do mate, they have just one to four cubs.Scientists and environmentalists believe the population is dangerously low -- no more than 700.
Source: © The Calgary Herald 2006
How many grizzly bear lives are lost each year ?
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