CANMORE – A black bear charged a group of hikers at Jura Creek near Exshaw Wednesday (June 3), stopping about five metres short of the group before fleeing into the woods.
The close bear encounter prompted provincial wildlife officials to caution people that there are grizzly and black bears out and about in the Bow Valley, including mamma bears with cubs.
“The bear came within five metres of them. It happened really quickly and they didn’t see it coming,” said Jay Honeyman, a human-wildlife conflict specialist with Alberta Environment and Parks.
“They had bear spray, but they didn’t have a chance to pull it out, but then the bear stopped and took off.”
As Fish and Wildlife officers investigated the incident Wednesday afternoon, they noticed very few people in the area were carrying bear spray.
Surveys in recent years show the number of people not carrying bear spray is a concern.
“Generally, compliance could be higher and this is a good example where bear spray would really be effective. That bear could really benefit from getting a shot of bear spray,” said Honeyman.
“I don’t know the history of this particular bear, but with some of these bears that are quite habituated to people, a couple blasts in the face and I think they’d be keeping their distance a little more.”
Over the last few of weeks, there has been a growing number of reports of individual bears on both sides of the Bow Valley, including a black bear with a cub or two east of Canmore.
Closer to town, there’s at least one female grizzly bear with a pair of two-year-old cubs and a black bear with three yearlings moving throughout the habitat patches on the south side of the valley in Canmore.
“We are also getting grizzly bear reports fairly regularly, but it’s sometimes hard to determine whether they are grizzly or not based on reports,” said Honeyman. “But there’s definitely other grizzly bears beyond this one family group."
The black bear mamma with her three yearlings was spotted several times last summer by hikers and mountain bikers.
“She was on the north side of the valley all last summer, and is essentially in the corridor, in the habitat patch, exactly where she should be,” said Honeyman.
“As far as we know, she hasn’t spent much, if any, time in the actual residential areas of that side of the valley.”
Another family of black bears seen almost daily at the Canmore Nordic Centre and Rundleview residential neighbourhood last summer ended up being killed last year by provincial wildlife officers for public safety reasons.
“They are in the big bear cemetery in the sky,” said Honeyman.
In all, 13 bears were removed from the Bow Valley ecosystem last year.
That includes five bears killed for public safety reasons, four habituated bears that were relocated, three that were struck and killed by vehicles and one run over on the train tracks.
Honeyman said the bear deaths and relocations act as a reminder that residents and visitors also have a role to play in keeping bears alive in the Bow Valley.
“We’re not just going out and willy-nilly removing bears. There’s a reason for it and the reason is because, in lots of cases, it’s people’s interactions that are resulting in the need to remove bears,” he said.
“That’s related to bird feeders and buffalo berry in people’s backyards, and not carrying bear spray, and having dogs off leash; all that stuff is contributing and it gets to a point where finally we can no longer ignore and we have to come and do the dirty deed.”
With so many bears in the busy and developed region, Bow Valley WildSmart reminds people to make lots of noise when on the trails, keep dogs on-leash, carry bear spray and know how to use it.
Nick de Ruyter, the organization’s program director, said he can’t emphasize enough how people need to be prepared for wildlife encounters, including the importance of carrying bear spray.
He said WildSmart has a video on its website wildsmart.ca/bearspray, with sub-titles in nine languages showing people how to use bear spray properly and effectively.
“People need to mentally be prepared that they might actually have to pull it out and use it,” said de Ruyter. “Remember, of course, to carry bear spray in an easily accessible location - not in your backpack.”
Over the past month or two, de Ruyter said he has also noticed there are many dogs off-leash.
“There have been many reports from people of off-leash dogs chasing them while they’re biking, while they’re hiking, while they’re trail running, and there’s been some reports of off-leash dogs chasing bears,” he said.
“It’s much safer for the dog to be on-leash so they won’t get into any trouble, it’s safer for the dog owner because an off-leash dog might attract the bear and bring it back to the person and it’s safer for the wildlife.”
