Alberta ranchers worry as cattle boneyards become magnets for grizzlies

Bears have killed his livestock and preyed on sick calves. They tear open silage bags and break into grain bins. But the real fear for Tony Bruder, a third-generation Twin Butte cattle rancher, is that one day it will be a human at the ugly end of a bear's attention. He's been chased by a bear while on horseback, and had grizzlies stroll by while he works under farm equipment. He's watched his children head out the back door to catch the school bus, and a bear wander through moments later. During the last number of years, Bruder says, human-bear conflicts have increased dramatically. He and other ranchers are placing part of the blame squarely on the shoulders of an unusual culprit -- bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The link is not an obvious one. But ranchers say regulations imposed by the federal government since a case of the disease was found in an Alberta cow in 2003 have changed how they dispose of cattle that die on the ranch, creating in the process a huge attractant for bears. There was a time before BSE when the rendering company would pick up a dead cow that has died of such things as old age or illness for free. It was a good deal in two ways: the rancher could get rid of a carcass at no cost, and the renderer could make some money off the dead stock. But with significant restrictions now placed on how dead cattle are rendered, those days are long gone...more