The last thing you want to do is get into a fight with a grizzly bear. While Hugh Glass, played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the Academy Award-nominated film The Revenant, lived to tell the tale, chances are you won’t.
Fortunately, Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park is hosting a presentation on the Kananaskis Bear Aversion Program, hosted by Glenbow’s Randy Ramsden. The presentation goes Jan. 26 at Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park, 255001 Glenbow Road, Cochrane.
In place since the late 1980s, this is the longest-running grizzly bear aversion program in Canada. The program uses aversive conditioning to teach grizzly bears to avoid humans and vehicles. The ultimate goal is to increase the safety of both bears and humans.
Ramsden has worked with Alberta Parks for 20 years. He started his career in the Chain Lakes/Claresholm District in 1996, and was transferred to the Crowsnest Pass in 2000 where he found his passion for working with bears. During his time in the Crowsnest Pass he became heavily involved in black bear and grizzly bear work.
In 2003 he transferred to Kananaskis District, where he ran the human wildlife conflict prevention program, which included the Kananaskis Grizzly Bear Aversion program. He was in the Kananaskis District for 13 years before promoting to District Conservation Officer in 2015 in the Cochrane Glenbow District.
For more information, call 403-851-9053 or email [email protected]
