A woman just west of Grande Prairie, Alta., says the province's wildlife officers could have prevented her two miniature donkeys from being killed by a grizzly bear in May.

Christie Olesen discovered the bodies of donkeys Tabasco and Jewel on her property on May 13.

Olesen, who breeds donkeys, including ones that are used for pet therapy in the local hospital, has run the Elmworth-based farm with her father for 17 years.

"[The bear] basically ripped them open, ate their organs out and just left their bodies there," Olesen said Tuesday.

Olesen said officers from Alberta Fish and Wildlife knew the bear was in the area and should have warned her.

When she contacted them to report the attack, Olesen said she was told they knew exactly which bear had killed her animals. The bear was wearing a tracking collar, they said.

Alberta should compensate her for the loss, she said.

Tabasco, a herd sire, was worth $7,500 and Jewel, a pregnant female, was worth about $3,000, Olesen said.

Officials told her the bear had been trapped and moved out of Alberta into northern B.C. last summer after killing other miniature donkeys near Sundre, Alta., Olesen said.

She said the officers told her they had been near Olesen's home the day before the attack looking for the bear.

"Their deaths were 100-per-cent preventable. If we would have known that bear was here, we could have put [the donkeys] in the barn and locked them in for the night," Olesen said.

Darcy Whiteside, a spokesperson for the Alberta Sustainable Resource Development (which includes Alberta Fish and Wildlife), said the department doesn't provide compensation in situations like this.

"In bear habitat, there's potentially a number of bears in the area," Whiteside said.

"It would just be impossible to warn people of collared bears in the area."