Grizzly bear attack leaves 22 sheep dead at Spring Point Hutterite Colony

SPRING POINT. Alta. -

In the early hours of Monday morning, a grizzly bear and her two cubs broke into a sheep pen on a farm at the Spring Point Hutterite Colony near Brocket, Alta.

In the wake of the attack, 17 sheep and five lambs were killed.

"It was just normal. We came down, started doing chores and one of the helpers went over here to get some hay," said Mike Walter, who manages much of the livestock at the colony.

"He came over all excited. He said you got to see this. Something got in – a cougar, a grizzly or something."

Soon after farm hands assessed the damage, they called Alberta Fish and Wildlife Services.

Officers were able to trap the sow and one of the cubs, who will be relocated to an area with less farmland.

One of the cubs still hasn't been found.

"They removed the bears this morning. But she's somewhere here – you've still got to be cautious," Walter said.

"She might be a year and a half old. There's a good chance she's coming back. I'm hopeful she doesn't do any damage."

An attack like this is very rare.

Grizzly bears aren't usually seen this far from the mountains.

But experts warn encounters like this could become more common.

"It's increased by a few hundred, let's say from a population of several hundred to begin with. So it's a relatively large increase over the last decade or so," said Everett Hanna, with the wildlife analytics lab at Lethbridge College.

Walter believes the grizzly bear population may be starting to get out of hand.

The province estimates there are between 900 and 1,150 grizzles in Alberta.

That's up from just 700 or so 14 years ago.

Grizzlies have been a protected species in Alberta since 2006.

Walter would like the province to introduce limited hunting tags for grizzlies to help control the population.

The financial loss of the attack is nearly $10,000 but will be paid for by the province.