A Grizzly bear.

30 May 2011

Grizzly Sow Killed by Train 12

Lake Louise Alberta - Banff National Park's breeding grizzly bear population has suffered another blow after a sow was hit and killed by a train, leaving two cubs orphaned.
 
The crash happened Saturday about 11 p.m. on the Canadian Pacific Rail line near Lake Louise but it's not known exactly what attracted the 175 lb. adult female bruin to the tracks, said Hal Morrison, wildlife human conflict specialist for Parks Canada.
 
"We did a site investigation... the tracks were clear of grain," he said, adding a necropsy also did not turn up any grain.
 
"Bears will choose to use railway tracks as a handy corridor where they don't have to worry about much except the train."
 
The crash happened on a bend in the railway and near water, in an area where there is not much food for bears due to cool wet weather impeding vegetation re-growth.
 
"It appeared just a bad set of circumstances where the sight lines were not the best," he said.
 
Subsequent trains reported seeing two cubs with the mother, who was likely in search of food, before she died.
 
Morrison said at about one-year-old, the cubs are adept at finding food but what they are lacking is their mother's protection.
 
Officials have decided not to try to capture the little bears or try to tag them but will monitor them and try to keep them away from tracks and highways, he said.
 
"We are trying not to stress them, trying to capture them would stress them," he said.
 
"Functioning as a twosome they are more likely to survive."
 
Though not tagged, their mother was known to Parks Canada staff as one of three females with cubs in the Lake Louise area.
 
"In the Lake Louise area we know we have three with cubs, it's a pretty big blow," he said.
 
There are only 60 grizzlies left in Banff National Park.
 
Parks Canada and Canadian Pacific have been working on a $1-million, five-year joint research plan to identify and implement effective ways of reducing bear deaths along rail lines.
 
Katie Schneider.