CANMORE – Banff-Kananaskis MLA Sarah Elmeligi took aim last week at Alberta Parks Minister Todd Loewen over cougar management after two cougar kittens were orphaned last month when their mother was killed by hunters.
In the Alberta Legislature on Thursday (March 13), Elmeligi brought up the two young kittens that are now in a temporary home at the Calgary Zoo after their mother was tracked by hounds and killed by hunters near Gap Lake east of Canmore on Feb. 10 as well as increased quotas for cougar hunting.
“Last year, the Minister of Forestry and Parks increased winter hunting of female cougars dramatically, another decision benefiting his hunter outfitter friends and not wildlife,” she said.
“People see this killing as needless and cruel. Will the minister hold whoever illegally killed this cougar accountable, or is he too focused on killing Alberta wildlife to care?”
Loewen said all are concerned over the cougars in the Bow Valley.
“I know that there’s an investigation going on, and we trust that investigation will be done shortly and the truth will come out on that,” he said.
On Feb. 21, a spokesperson for Alberta Public Safety and Emergency Services emailed the Outlook that after a thorough review of the case, Alberta Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Services determined the incident did not meet the threshold for an unlawful hunt.
“FWES is aware of photographs showing faint spots on the kittens. These spots would likely not have been discernible in the forest environment during a hunting situation. The lighting and distance in such settings often make such markings difficult or impossible to detect in real-time,” stated the email.
“FWES believes that the young cougars were not with their mother at the time the cougar was harvested. This factor was crucial in our assessment, as the absence of the young cougars during the hunting incident indicates that this was not a situation involving a dependent family unit.”
The Calgary Zoo, which took the two kittens in temporarily until a permanent home can be found, indicated otherwise, noting the approximately five- to six-month-old kittens “wouldn’t have survived on their own.”
Canmore wildlife photographer John Marriott, who was in the area on the day of the hunt, maintains there were kitten tracks everywhere, which the hunters must have seen, and not seeing the spots shouldn’t be a defence.
“How does it go for you when you blast through a 30km zone at 75 km/h and tell the officer you ‘didn’t see the sign’? What is the point of having a ‘female cougar with spotted kittens law’ if you can’t enforce it, or worse, won’t enforce it?” he previously told the Outlook.
A FOIP (Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy) request on the matter to the department overseeing Fish and Wildlife by the Outlook has been denied.
“This matter is currently under active prosecutorial investigation, and as such, records cannot be disclosed …” states a closure letter.
According to the Calgary Zoo, a permanent home for the two orphaned kittens has not been finalized yet.
“The cougar kittens have settled in well and are thriving under the exceptional care they’re receiving from our animal care and veterinary team,” stated an email.
“We are fully focused on meeting their care needs during their temporary stay with us and will not be providing any further updates at this time.”
Elmeligi said recent changes in hunting management quotas are not based on wildfire science or data but come from lobbying efforts by Loewen’s hunting buddies. She also noted later that Loewen’s family has a hunting and outfitting business.
“Given these cougar kittens were too young to take care of themselves and they still have spots, by definition hunting their mother is illegal, given that Fish and Wildlife staff were directed to deem this hunt legal, given apparently the UCP’s self-serving agenda goes beyond health care and infrastructure into wildlife, did the minister direct Fish and Wildlife to turn a blind eye and rule in favour of his hunting buddies?,” she questioned.
Loewen quikcly fired back, saying the accusation was “atrocious” and “absolutely untrue.”
“There was no direction given by me to any officers on that investigation. They did that independently through the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services,” he said.
“This investigation continues, and it will continue until it’s completed.”
Elmeligi said the direction had to come from somewhere.
“Given the Minister of Forestry and Parks has had previous financial interests in a hunter guide outfitting business that is now owned by his son, as I understand, given every decision this minister has made directly financially benefits hunter guide outfitting businesses, given that this government’s pattern of corruption to reap personal benefits goes across ministries, how can Albertans trust the minister to make decisions that benefit Alberta wildlife when this corruption isn’t an isolated instance; it’s how they govern?” she said.
A point of order was called on Elmeligi but Loewen responded, saying “that is absolutely disgusting that that member would bring that up.”
“That member knows that we have an ethics commissioner in this province,” he said.
“Every minister in this government has to go through that ethics commissioner’s process to make sure that the decisions we make here are proper and can withstand the Conflicts of Interest Act.”
Speaker Nathan Cooper said there are times when the speaker has to wrestle with the complex nature of allowing members to ask difficult, complex and hard-hitting questions with the other rules of the assembly around making personal accusations, personal attacks, or otherwise.
He said this was one such case, balancing between Elmeligi’s strongly held views and the minister’s right to not be accused of something he did not or could not do due to protections in the province. Ruling this was a point of order, he said Elmeligi should apologize and withdraw.
“I apologize and withdraw,” she said.
