BANFF – A mama grizzly bear that has had at least four sets of cubs, including several killed on the railway line, has now been been struck and killed by a train in Banff National Park.
The adult female, known as No. 130, and one of her two yearling cubs was killed on the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks near Vermilion Lakes west of the Banff townsite about 10 a.m. on Thursday (June 24). The second cub is alive and uninjured.
“This is a very unfortunate incident,” said Dwight Bourdin, acting resource conservation manager for Banff National Park.
CP Railway immediately reported the strike to Parks Canada, prompting wildlife crews to race to the scene, where they identified the bear as 130 based on a broken ear tag.
Parks Canada continues to keep an eye out for the surviving yearling, which had been hanging around the area of the accident the following day. The sex of the young bear is unknown.
“Our team observed it and it is fully mobile,” Bourdin said, noting the young animal is estimated to weigh about 80 pounds.
“It was looking very healthy, with good body condition.”
Bear 130 was captured and collared as part of the 2012-17 joint study by CP Railway and Parks Canada to look at ways to reduce grizzly bear deaths on the train tracks.
Although no single cause was identified over the course of the $1 million, five-year study, researchers with the University of Alberta indicated train speed and spilled grain played a role in bear deaths on the tracks.
In addition, it was concluded that bears don’t seem to hear a train coming in certain areas, depending on topography or terrain, food sources like plants along the rail line attract bears, while others use it as an easy travel route.
The researchers found about 110 tonnes of grain is spilled or trickled from trains carrying grain from the prairies to the West Coast for export across a 137-kilometre stretch of railway in Banff and Yoho – enough to feed 50 bears for an entire year.
Bourdin, however, said there was no sign of grain on the tracks at the time of bear 130’s death.
He said a necropsy showed only natural foods in her belly, such as horsetails and dandelions.
“She was most likely using the railway as a corridor, a travel route,” he said.
“With the the spring freshet, my understanding is the water was on both sides of that section of track so the escape route was challenging.”
Bear 130 was known to be somewhat shy and reclusive, and while the Bow Valley was part her home range, she typically preferred the quieter areas, including the Fairholme bench, and tried to avoid the high human-use areas.
Believed to be approaching somewhere in the range of 18 years old, bear 130 emerged from the den in spring 2020 with three cubs in tow, but was only seen with two of them this year.
In 2016, CP reported hitting one, possibly two cubs in the Muleshoe area, about 10 kilometres west of Banff. An intensive ground and air search in the area failed to turn up any physical evidence of a strike, and the bears eventually showed up.
Two years earlier, male grizzly No. 136, also dubbed Split Lip for his disfigured mouth, was the prime suspect in killing another one of her litter of cubs based on his known whereabouts at the time of the cubs’ disappearance.
Bear 130’s first litter of cubs was killed on the train tracks in October, 2012. Just days before, the two yearlings had returned to the busy Bow Valley with their mother from the remote Cascade Valley where they have spent much of that summer.
Officials say she had been hanging around the Banff townsite this spring, including on Tunnel Mountain and the grassy greens of the Banff Springs Golf Course. In early June, one of her cubs took down a newborn elk calf on the golf course, and 130 hauled it off into the woods for the bear family to eat.
“She typically avoids high human-use areas,” Bourdin said.
The premature death of bear 130 and one of her yearling cubs follows the death of bear No. 156 at the end of May in neighbouring Yoho National Park. They were struck by a vehicle on the Trans-Canada Highway near Field. Those orphaned cubs, a male and a female, were relocated to a remote area of the backcountry within 156’s home range, which includes parts of Banff and Yoho national parks.
Parks Canada decided to give those cubs a better shot at survival away from the deadly highway, especially given a previous case in Yoho in 2011 in which yearling cubs survived on their own into future years.
The mother of those cubs was also struck by a train. One of the cubs survived four years before getting run over on the Trans-Canada Highway in Yoho in 2015. That male bear had to be euthanized on site because of its injuries.
While cubs in this region typically stay with their mothers for about three to four years, Bourdin said he believes 130's yearling cub has a good chance of survival based on its health, noting there are lots of natural foods currently available.
He said one of the biggest risks to the cub at this point is likely large male grizzly bears. Male bears, such as Bear 122, also known as The Boss, and Split Lip, are known to prey on and kill cubs, which is even easier when a mother is not around to defend them.
“I think that’s potentially always a risk – that’s nature,” Bourdin said.
For now, there are no plans to intervene or relocate this yearling to a more remote area where it might be less likely to have encounters with people in the busy Bow Valley without its mama’s guidance.
“I think right now, if this cub can survive without intervention, that’s the best. The less we as people and managers have to intervene, the better,” Bourdin said.
“If we do see it hanging around, we will potentially consider that, but any time you intervene like that, you’re always going to put that bear potentially into some other bear’s home range.”
Colleen Campbell, who was a researcher with the Eastern Slopes Grizzly Bear Project and is a member of the Bow Valley Naturalists’ board of directors, said bear 130’s death is tragic.
She said she is not optimistic about the orphaned cub’s chances of survival.
“There have been other young orphaned grizzlies,” she said. “I know of none that have made it – though we don’t know the fates of some.”
The death of bear 130 and one of her yearlings are the first confirmed grizzly bear mortality incidents on the railway in 2021 in Banff National Park.
Female bear No. 143 was struck and killed on the train tracks between Castle Mountain and Lake Louise in September 2020. She spent most of her time in the backcountry of Banff and the neighbouring Yoho and Kootenay national parks.
Grizzly bears are listed as a threatened species in Alberta. Since 2000, at least 17 grizzly bears have been killed on the train tracks in Banff and Yoho national parks, which is considered a significant blow to Banff’s population of about 60 grizzlies.
Survival of female bears is considered critical to the population, given ongoing research has found that Banff’s bears reproduce more slowly than in other areas of North America because their food supply is limited in the harsh, mountain habitat.
Parks Canada officials say bear-train collisions pose a complex problem with no simple solution, noting they cannot eliminate the risk of grizzly bears being hit along the rail corridor.
However, Bourdin said the aim is to reduce the overall risk of grizzly bear mortality on the railway through targeted research-based measures.
He said they have developed and improved wildlife travel routes adjacent to sections of track and use prescribed fire and forest thinning to enhance grizzly bear habitat in areas away from the railway.
“We do meet with CP and give them updates on our program to help support and improve grizzly bear habitat,” he said. “They are definitely aware of it.”
Please report all bear sightings to Parks Canada dispatch at 403-762-1470.
