Banff Alberta - Officials in Banff National Park are troubled by a photograph of a well-known grizzly bear soaked in oil, suggesting he may have entered a grease station along the railway tracks.
 
Last week, professional photographer John Marriott sent a wildlife specialist the photo of No. 122, a large male grizzly bear that made headlines last summer for his healthy appetite and who has spent a lot of time eating along the railway tracks this spring.
 
"You can clearly see how soaked in rail oil and crap that he is," Marriott wrote in his email, which he also sent to the Herald.
 
"That can't possibly be healthy for him."
 
Marriott was unavailable for further comment, but parks officials said the photo was taken this spring between the Lake Minnewanka interchange and the Banff town site.
 
"Obviously it's a disconcerting photo," said Rick Kubian, resource conservation manager with Parks Canada.
 
"We're certainly concerned about grizzly bears overall in Banff park. They are a threatened species in Alberta and an iconic species in Banff park."
 
Kubian said it was the first time he had seen a bear covered in oil, but some of his colleagues have witnessed similar situations.
 
"It could be many things, but there are grease stations located along the tracks that are used where the cars move from one track to another track so the bears have been known to have gotten into a location like that," he said.
 
"They can be quite greasy."
 
He didn't believe the oil would harm the bear.
 
Ed Greenberg, a spokesman for Canadian Pacific Railway, said they are concerned about the possibility the incident could have happened along the tracks.
 
"We have officials now looking into it, including contacting Parks Canada to work with them to determine what may have taken place here, if, in fact, it does involve a part of our operations," he said Friday.
 
"Our railway has been collaborating with Parks Canada for a number of years at reducing bear interactions with our operations and we're going to take a close look at this report."
 
The railway has become the most common threat to bears in Banff National Park, with 13 grizzlies killed by trains since 2007.
 
The concerns led to a joint project between Parks Canada and Canadian Pacific Railway, which is trying to improve the situation for the 60 or so grizzly bears in the national park.
 
"We're trying to understood the root causes or reasons grizzly bears are using those tracks," explained Kubian, noting they're in the fourth year of the five-year project.
 
"The goal is to come up with solutions that will minimize the potential for grizzly bears to be negatively affected while they are using the tracks."

Colette Derworiz.

Editor's Note:  Both oil and grease are mentioned in this article. After reading the article it appears the bear came in contact with a flange oiler which uses grease to lubricate the inside of the rails, typically before a curve in the track.