Canada: grizzly bear hunting quietly reinstated in Alberta

Conservationists say it's a slap in the face' to those who are trying to save the threatened species

The Canadian province of Alberta has quietly reversed a two-decade ban on hunting grizzly bears, in what conservations described as a slap in the face" amid continuing debate over the future of the threatened species.

Alberta first banned the hunting of grizzly bears in 2006 after the population of the species, which once reached as many as 9,0000 bears, collapsed due to generations of overhunting, agriculture development and urbanization.