22 August 2005
Orphaned Cubs Best Left Alone
Banff - Parks Canada officials say three grizzly cubs orphaned when their
well-known mother was hit by a train are best left alone.
The cubs have been on their own since their mother, a 10-year-old sow known as Bear No. 66, was hit by a freight
train Friday while feeding on berries on the Canadian Pacific Railway line about eight km east of Castle Junction, near Banff.
"They'll have a tough time," said Jillian Roulet, superintendent of Banff National Park.
In addition to human-made hazards such as trains and highway traffic, the orphaned cubs will have to contend with
threats from wolves and other bears while trying to find enough food to survive a long winter hibernation.
But as daunting as the wilderness may be for cubs that are less than a year old, Roulet said leaving them alone gives them the
best chance of survival.
Capturing cubs in the fall and releasing them after the winter greatly diminishes their ability to survive on their own, said
Roulet. And she said attempts to bond orphaned cubs with another mother don't often work.
Although Parks Canada officials won't get directly involved in feeding or caring for the orphaned cubs, they will employ tactics
to discourage their contact with humans.
A wildlife refuge says it could shelter the cubs while they mature, then possibly become the first organization to successfully
reintroduce captive grizzlies to the wild.
"The mother's job is to protect the cubs from other predatory male bears, cougars, and wolves and to teach the cubs survival
skills they don't inherently know," said Ken Macquisten, a veterinarian and director of the Kicking Horse Mountain Grizzly
Bear Refuge and the Grouse Mountain Wildlife Refuge.
"The survival rate of cubs of a year without their mother is very slim."
Kicking Horse, near Golden, B.C., is the world's largest enclosed protected grizzly bear habitat, covering 10 hectares.
Grizzly bears held in captivity generally are considered too dangerous to release back into the wild because they've usually had
too much contact with humans and can't be trusted to stay away from populated areas.
Macquisten said it may be possible to place young cubs in a large, remote area surrounded by electric fencing that would allow
them protection from predators while minimizing human contact.
Roulet wouldn't rule out looking at that option later, but said for now the best thing is for the cubs to stay where they are.
"The first option is to let them be and see how they do," Roulet said. "There's a good chance one or two of them
wouldn't make it even if the mother was alive, but they're all healthy at the moment and we'd prefer to let nature take care of
them."
The cubs' mother, Bear No. 66, was famous for strolling down Banff Avenue several years ago and had strayed into
high-use areas of the park over the years.
Park officials closed trails to give the bear and her brood space, and had used aversive conditioning to steer the family clear
of populated areas.
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