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Alberta’s special hunting licences yield $356K at Utah auction
Seven unique hunting licences issued by the Alberta government have sold for the equivalent of C$356,000 at an auction in Utah. The Alberta Minister’s Special Licences are issued annually and exempt hunters with the highest bid from certain rules.
Jack Farrell, The Canadian Pressabout 7 hours ago
- https://www.rmoutlook.com/beyond-local/albertas-special-hunting-licences-yield-356k-at-utah-auction-10247673
Seven unique hunting licences issued by the Alberta government have sold for the equivalent of C$356,000 at an auction in Utah.
The Alberta Minister’s Special Licences are issued annually and exempt hunters with the highest bid from certain rules.
At the 2025 Western Hunting and Conservation Expo in Utah on the weekend, hunters paid US$50,000 each for moose and elk licences, while the mule deer licence was the most coveted and sold for US$70,000.
The white-tailed deer licence sold for US$32,500; the cougar licence sold for US$29,000; and the one for a pronghorn sold for US$15,000.
The turkey licence fetched the least at US$4,500.
An eighth special licence issued by the province this year, for a bighorn sheep — Alberta’s official mammal, sold for a record-breaking US$400,000 at a different U.S. auction.
Licence holders are allowed to kill one animal that the licence is for, but the hunt can take place year-round in most parts of the province, as long as hunting for that animal is already permitted in the area.
Licence holders don’t need to be Alberta or Canadian residents, and each licence is valid for one year.
Compared to last year, the 2025 bighorn sheep, moose and pronghorn licences all sold for higher amounts, while the elk, turkey, and mule deer licences sold for less.
The mule deer licence in 2024 yielded US$160,000 — more than twice as much as this year.
Cougar and white-tailed deer licences weren’t issued in 2024.
Overall, the 2025 special licences fetched C$923,000, which the government has pledged for animal conservation projects.
Alexandru Cioban, a spokesperson for Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen, did not immediately respond to questions Monday but said last month the funds are given to the Alberta Professional Outfitters Society.
The society, which is responsible for licensing hunting guides and outfitters on behalf of the government, administers the funds on behalf of a committee, which doles out the money in the form of grants for conservation projects.
Jeana Schuurman, the society’s managing director, has said the committee has representatives from conservation organizations and post-secondary schools, as well as an Indigenous representative and a member of the public.
Cioban said in January that habitat enhancement, disease management in wild sheep and wildlife movement ecology studies are examples of projects the licences have helped fund in past years.
“While the funds raised vary from year to year, the Minister’s Special Licence program provides a steady flow of funding to conservation projects,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 17, 2025.
Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press
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Princess Kate bans royal hunting ‘blooding’ ritual for her children, new book reveals
Royal expert says Princess of Wales insisted her children not be put through royal ritual involving bloodying their faces in freshly hunted game
Inbal Hananel|05:50Add a comment
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After recovering from cancer, Princess Kate is gradually resuming her royal duties while preparing for her future role alongside her husband, Crown Prince William. As she steps back into the public eye, a new biography sheds light on a long-standing royal tradition she has firmly rejected for her children.
A forthcoming book, Yes, Ma’am – The Secret Life of Royal Servants by royal expert Tom Quinn, reveals that the Princess of Wales has banned the controversial “blooding” ritual for her children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. The tradition, practiced for generations within the royal family, involves young royals smearing the blood of their first hunting kill—typically a deer or fox—on their faces.
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“Charles’ daughter-in-law, Catherine, Princess of Wales, has put her foot down and insisted there will be no blooding for her children,” Quinn wrote.
King Charles and his sons, Princes William and Harry, underwent the ritual as teenagers. In his autobiography Spare, Prince Harry detailed his unsettling experience at age 15, recalling how his hunting guide forced his head into a deer carcass.
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“He placed a hand gently behind my neck and pushed my head inside the carcass,” Harry wrote. “I tried to pull away, but Sandy pushed me deeper. I was shocked by his insane strength. And by the infernal smell. My breakfast jumped up from my stomach. After a minute I couldn’t smell anything, because I couldn’t breathe. My nose and mouth were full of blood, guts and a deep, upsetting warmth.”
While Kate has adhered to many royal customs—including traditional post-birth photo ops—insiders have long noted her quiet opposition to certain traditions, particularly royal hunting practices.
William, an avid shooter like his father, has also grown more hesitant about the family’s hunting legacy—not for personal moral reasons, but due to shifting public opinion.
“William loves shooting—a love he shares with his father—but he is also conscious that the tide is now moving against what many people now refer to as blood sports,” Quinn previously stated in 2023.
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Mass deaths of elephant seals recorded as bird flu sweeps across the Antarctic
Mass deaths of elephant seals recorded as bird flu sweeps across the Antarctic
This article is more than 1 year old
This article is more than 1 year old
Researchers warn of one of ‘largest ecological disasters of modern times’ if the highly contagious disease reaches penguin colonies
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Phoebe WestonFri 8 Dec 2023 00.00 ESTShare
Bird flu is spreading in the Antarctic, with hundreds of elephant seals found dead, and fears it could bring “one of the largest ecological disasters of modern times” if the highly contagious virus reaches the remote penguin populations.
The virus was first reported among brown skua on Bird Island, off South Georgia. Since then, researchers and observers have reported mass deaths of elephant seals, as well as increased deaths of fur seals, kelp gulls and brown skua at several other sites. Cases have been confirmed 900 miles (1,500km) west of South Georgia, among southern fulmar on the Falkland Islands.
Dr Meagan Dewar, chair of the Antarctic Wildlife Health Network, told the Guardian that the situation among southern elephant seals was concerning. “At some sites we’ve had mass mortalities, where we are getting into the hundreds,” she said. “There is a likely chance it could be avian influenza.”
So far tests have confirmed bird flu deaths at eight sites across the Antarctic, and the disease is suspected with confirmation from tests still pending at 20 further sites where animals have died.
Researchers reported that a number of elephant seals had been exhibiting symptoms of avian flu, such as difficulty breathing, coughing and accumulations of mucus around the nose. Lethargy, spasms and an inability to fly are symptoms in birds.
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While a number of seabird cases have been confirmed, many – including the elephant seals – are still classed as suspected, pending lab results.
So far there are no recorded cases on the Antarctic mainland – home to unique ecosystems that are some of the world’s most isolated – but the disease is expected to arrive in the coming months as birds move.
Dewar said: “It’s devastating to watch that happen and recording all the cases we’re getting.”
Penguins are starting to cluster together as the breeding season starts, and this close contact makes them particularly vulnerable. Previous outbreaks in South Africa, Chile and Argentina show they are susceptible to the disease.
“If the virus does start to cause mass mortality events across penguin colonies, it could signal one of the largest ecological disasters of modern times,” researchers wrote in a pre-print research paper last month.
Many species in the Antarctic are found nowhere else, so the consequences for the region of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) spreading are unknown.
The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research said recently: “Given the dense breeding colonies of wildlife in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions, HPAI is expected to have devastating impacts on the wildlife and to lead to catastrophic breeding failure and mortality events in the region.”
The virus has killed an estimated 20,000 sea lions in Chile and Peru. Dewar said: “If we start to get outbreaks similar to what we’ve seen in South America that could have very big impacts. Emperor penguins and chinstrap penguins have been taking significant declines, so if we get large outbreaks in those species, that could cause further pressure on those colonies.”
The current outbreak of the highly infectious variant of H5N1 – which started in 2021 – is estimated to have killed millions of wild birds. The strain spreading in Antarctica is clade 2.3.4.4b, which has decimated bird populations across the UK, continental Europe, South Africa and the Americas, with seabird colonies experiencing losses of 50% to 60%. The H5N1 strain has not yet reached Oceania
Dr Michelle Wille, from the Centre for Pathogen Genomics and the University of Melbourne, who is helping to record deaths, said: “It’s terrible news that it’s now in the sub-Antarctic, and we are very worried about viral spread into the Antarctic. In addition to negative affects on animals, the ‘removal’ of vast numbers of animals from the Antarctic ecosystem may have long-term ecosystem effects.”
Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey and the British government’s Animal and Plant Health Agency are identifying possible cases, testing them and sharing data. It is challenging to record what is happening because of the size of Antarctica and the small number of people monitoring it. A number of reports of mass deaths have come through tour vessels.
Many places in South Georgia are now closed to tourists and even researchers have to go through a number of procedures to get there in a bid to stop the disease spreading, said Dr Michael Wenger, who trained as a marine biologist and has been working as a guide in Antarctica for 18 years.
He added: “It’s already hard to estimate numbers in normal situations, because the area is huge and there are a lot of animals. Now with the areas closed, it’s even harder.”
This article was amended on 11 December 2023 because Dr Michelle Wille is at the University of Melbourne, not Sydney as an earlier version said.
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