Alberta’s top bear biologist has been removed from his job, and some believe it is directly related to a complaint he made about the availablity of grizzly population data.

Dr. Gordon Stenhouse, who continues to work with the province in a different capacity, was stripped of his title as chief grizzly bear biologist last week. Stenhouse is a world-renowned researcher who has done extensive work in the Foothills Model Forest area just east of Jasper and his base of operations is in Hinton.

Stenhouse joined a chorus of voices calling out for greater transparency and public access to population figures for Alberta’s grizzly bears. Groups such as the Grizzly Bear Alliance and the Jasper Enivronmental Association have been attempting to obtain information and data collected by the government in the lead up to the announcement of whether or not a controlled spring grizzly hunt will continue this year.

Stenhouse is a member of the Alberta Grizzly Recovery Team, a panel of experts and scientists that has recommended that the hunt be discontinued. The provincial Endangered Species Conservation Committee has also requested that grizzlies be declared a threatened species, a move that would in effect prevent any future hunting of the animals.Although Stenhouse has not commented on the record since his reassignment became public knowledge last Thursday (February 2), a top official with the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees believes that the move is directly related to comments Stenhouse made about the government’s reluctance to release their up-to-date population data.

“Someone in the government doesn’t want the truth to come out – and the truth is that this person is a top level expert on grizzly bears, and has been functioning as such and doing an incredible job dealing with Parks Canada, the federal government and all other government levels,” AUPE President Dan McLellan told the CBC. The provincial Minister of Sustainable Resources, David Coutts, said earlier this week that he would be looking into the matter.

A decision on the spring grizzly hunt is expected this month.