A female grizzly and two cubs relocated from the Bow Valley have appeared in Jasper and once again her future lies in the hands of parks biologists.
On June 26, bear 105 and two of her cubs were flown by helicopter to an area north of Hinton after she was spotted moving through several Canmore neighbourhoods. The original plan was to drop them near Grande Cache, however, high winds forced the helicopter pilot to cut the trip short, leaving the mother and her young cubs to survive outside of protected areas. Her third cub, a three-year-old, was sent to Kananaskis Country.
On Saturday (July 21), bear 105 was spotted in Jasper National Park, about 130 kilometres from where she was released, crossing the Maligne River north of the town around noon. By 4 p.m., she had moved to the Jasper Park Lodge golf course.
“We tried to turn her from going to Jasper Park Lodge, but she was undeterred. She walked into the Jasper Park Lodge (property), by a high visitor-use area, by the tennis courts. But her behaviour was pretty benign. She brought her cubs through the chaos of the golf course,” said Jasper National Park Human/Wildlife Conflict Specialist Steve Malcolm.
Resource conservation officers originally thought the bear was from the park, but they were able to identify her and the cubs by their ear tags.
“She was directional, focused and looked pretty driven. We thought she’d continue south,” Malcolm said.
While they hoped she’d work her way into the wilds of the Valley of the Five Lakes south of the town, she showed up in Jasper on Sunday. Trapped between the town, campsites and the highway, she was hazed south again, stubbornly sticking to the safety of the surrounding landscape.
Wildlife managers are having some trouble tracking her as her ear tag has stopped working. If she stays in the park, Malcolm said, he’d like to re-collar her.
“She’s in good shape and, from our original assessment, her behaviour hasn’t changed,” Malcolm said.
Parks Canada wildlife officials met with Alberta Parks and Sustainable Resource Development earlier this week to discuss the bear’s future. Malcolm mused she may not be a good candidate for relocation since she appears to have a “homing pigeon” instinct, and said the park can’t have her hanging around the town. If she is relocated, it’s likely she’d be dropped in the Wilmore Wilderness area, where she was originally supposed to be dropped.
“Our ultimate plan is to come up with a strategy. We cannot manage her in high visitor-use areas in Jasper. If she leaves and challenges other bears for space, she can do that. Right now she wants to be in the heart of the community.”
Anytime bear 105 approaches the town, she’s being aggressively hazed out.
Malcom is encouraged by the fact she hasn’t shown any aggressive behaviour towards humans, stating she appears safer than most grizzlies, but knows that could change suddenly. This year, Jasper National Park has had 18 grizzly bears move through the valley bottom.
“She walked 130 kilometres through challenging terrain. She seems to be a good mother. Her cubs are doing well and she hit here at berry season, where we’ll have a bumper crop. It will be hard to convince her to leave,” Malcolm said.
A public information campaign has been launched in Jasper to remind people to stay bear aware.
“Parks is a strong proponent of giving bears an opportunity. If we move her, we’re not sure if she’ll stay or slide into another park. We can’t make this decision in isolation,” Malcolm said. “She’s now running on the graces of her personality. It would be nice to find her a better spot,” Malcolm said.
