Bears killed on area highways

News

Posted By Pam Doyle/Canmore Leader

Posted 1 month ago

By Pam Doyle

Canmore Leader

Two bears were killed by vehicles in the area within the past week, one of them a member of the province's threatened grizzly bear population.

On Sunday at about 1 p.m., a vehicle hit and killed a black bear that was trying to cross the westbound lanes of the Trans Canada Highway at the rock cut between Canmore and Seebe.

"The driver didn't stop to pull the bear off of the highway," Fish and Wildlife officer Dave Dickson said. "It was on a tight corner and could have caused a hazard for drivers."

Traffic was busy at the time with people heading out for a day in the mountains. A carcass on the road could cause a serious traffic accident, but Dickson responded quickly and removed the animal shortly after it was hit by the vehicle, he said.

On Sunday, Dickson removed two dead elk from the side of the TCH that had been hit by vehicles.

"I also removed a young black bear off of the railway tracks halfway between Canmore and Exshaw," Dickson said. "There didn't seem to be any grain on the tracks."

On Sunday, (July 11) at 11:30 p.m., a motorist reported that they had struck a grizzly bear while driving on Highway 40 by the Fortress Junction. The next morning, Alberta Parks conservation officer Randy Ramsden went out to look for the grizzly, according to Alberta Parks senior Park Ecologist Melanie Percy.

"The next morning he confirmed that the grizzly bear had wandered into cover and died of his injuries," Percy said.

What Ramsden found was a sub-adult male grizzly bear weighing 150 pounds.

"We lost a member of the grizzly bear population that is threatened in Alberta," Percy said. "The loss is significant. We don't lose many bears on Highway 40."

People should be very careful driving on Highway 40, especially at night, as a variety of wildlife, including elk, Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, cougars, rodents, porcupines, black bears and grizzly bears can be either crossing or standing on the roadway. Bighorn sheep tend to stand still and lick salt off of the road and they do not move quickly, even when a vehicle is driving towards them, she said.

Also this summer, grizzly bear 107, a young female, was removed from the Bow Valley bear population and relocated to northern Alberta after making too many appearances on the Silvertip and Stewart Creek golf courses, and wandering too close to homes in those areas.

The carcass of the grizzly bear killed on July 11 is now stored in an Alberta Parks freezer for future analysis.

"We can take tissue and hair samples that will go toward our provincial DNA database," Percy said. "They are used in a number of bear studies that are going on right now."

There are currently 45 grizzly bears in Kananaskis Country, according to Alberta Parks biologist John Paczkowski.

"A common estimate is that half of them are male and half of the 45 are female grizzly bears," Paczkowski said. "This summer, we trapped some of the population to put new radio collars on them as part of our monitoring and shepherding program."

Biologists have motion sensor cameras set up in the area from the Stewart Creek underpass under the TCH to Bow Valley Provincial Park, he said.

The cameras take photographs of any animal coming close to the cameras, and they capture images of anything from grizzly and black bears, elk, coyotes, wolves, cougars, the odd wolverine and lately, a surprisingly high number of bobcats, he said.

Paczkowski is putting together a study on the elusive cats, and he will release details later this year, he said.

If you see problem wildlife, report it by calling 403-591-7755 or visit wildsmart.ca.

photos@canmoreleader.com

Topic guidelines: We welcome your thoughts, stories and information related to this article. Please stay on topic and be respectful of others. Keep the conversation appropriate for interested readers.