20 June 2006
Bear Dies After Being Hit by Train Near Field
Field British Columbia - Following the first railway track
black bear mortality of the year on Sunday, local environmental lobbyist Jim Pissot is asking Canadian Pacific Rail to take increased
action against grain spills.
At around 10 a.m. Sunday, a young adult male black bear was killed by a train on the rail line west of Field.
Janet Klock, spokesperson for Parks Canada's Lake Louise, Yoho, and Kootenay field unit, said grains were discovered along the tracks
where the black bear was killed, but that Parks Canada could not confirm that it was actually eating the grains.
"We can't say with 100 percent certainty (that the bear was feeding on grain), but there was grain on the track," said Klock.
"We don't know if he was there eating but there was grain on the track."
Pissot, executive director of Defenders of Wildlife Canada, said he is hoping that incidents such as these can be avoided.
"There has been no sign from CP Rail over the last three years that they intend to do anything better with regard to preventing
the grain spills or cleaning them up more readily," said Pissot.
This is the first bear mortality of 2006 caused by a train. Klock said that a bear was killed by a train on that same area of the tracks
one or two years ago. Grain was also found at the time.
"It's an ongoing issue that we're working with CP to try to come up with some different ideas to mitigate that," Klock said.
"Every time something happens, it's that reminder that this is something that we want to fix," said Klock.
Pissot insisted that CP has yet to make improved efforts to either keep cars from spilling grain or to clean up spills more quickly.
"CP Rail does not seem to be in a dialogue position right now," said Pissot.
"I think the Canadian Pacific Railway needs to ensure that every car that leaves Calgary, to come over the mountains, is absolutely
sealed tight, does not have any leaky or faulty doors on the grain cars, and that there is no stray grain that has been spilled onto
the flat parts of the car. It's very simple to do."
Last week CP Rail announced a pilot project involving a deer whistle in order to avoid such tragedies, however Pissot spoke unfavourably
about the devices.
"The only thing that I've heard from the railway over the last month has been this little deer whistle thing that they announced
the other day, which is to me a band-aid, and it's a band-aid that doesn't work anyway."
Pissot contends that animals don't have the proper reflexes to move out of the way of a train, even if they hear a warning sound.
Furthermore, it doesn't solve the problem of grain spills.
The company has a truck on rails to suck up grain spills in the mountain parks and uses it regularly on its main line through Banff.
Pissot said he would like to see CPR spend its declared 38 percent increase in profit on replacing grain cars.
Parks Canada said there are no reports of whether or not the bear was at all sick or malnourished. The bear was neither tagged or
collared and was classified as "sub-adult", meaning it was four or five years old. However that information is
not entirely certain due to the state the deceased bear was in when it was recovered.
"It's a little bit of a guess because of the shape the bear was in when they found him," Klock said.
Pissot said the death of a black bear is less of a loss than when a grizzly is killed, however it is a tragedy nonetheless.
"Although I have not seen black bear studies, I think the worst fatalities at this point are female grizzlies because they are the
drivers for our grizzly bear population," said Pissot.
"But I don't take much consolation in the fact that this was a black bear and that this was a young male. For me the tragedy is
much the same."
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