Another female grizzly bear has died in Banff National Park at the hands of humans.
A five-and-a-half year old grizzly, known as 108, was hit on the Trans-Canada Highway near Castle Junction on Monday (July 11), but did not survive her serious injuries.
Resource conservation officers cut a hole in the fence to help shepherd her from the highway and were hopeful she had curled up somewhere safe to recover from her injuries.
But, sadly, they found her body about 200 metres off the highway, Wednesday afternoon (July 13). It appears she died as a result of internal injuries.
Bear 108 was the daughter of 64, who these days is spending time with her three cubs from this year near the Sunshine parking lot. Bear 108’s sister, bear 109, was killed on the train tracks in May 2010 at Five-Mile Bridge. The family group separated in June 2009.
Steve Michel, human-wildlife conflict specialist for Banff National Park, said 108 had been spending quite a bit of time with a male grizzly during the breeding season.
They had high hopes she was going to be a reproducing female bear. The grizzly bear population in Banff National Park is thought to be around 60.
Michel said there have been several fence intrusions onto the highway attributed to this bear in the last month, on both the east and west side of Castle Junction.
“The fence in the section west of Castle is still under construction and is not finished,” he said.
