It’s been a wildly abnormal year for human/bear interactions in Banff National Park – with more grizzly contact cases expected this fall.
Banff National Park has surged past 1,000 wildlife occurrences to date in 2014; they range from elk lumbering along the shoulder of the highway to bears nosing through garbage cans at campsites.
With a chill in the air and fall around the corner, wildlife specialists aren’t too sure what will happen with human/bear interaction numbers, but with the dry summer and lack of natural food, they’re predicting bears will be more willing to take risks.
“Overall, there has been a berry shortage this year, so we anticipate that we’re going to see lots of bears kind of return to the valley bottom and back into the townsites this fall as kind of a last ‘kick at the can’ to try and get some food (before hibernation),” said Brianna Burley, human-wildlife conflict specialist for Lake Louise, Yoho, Kootenay national parks.
“It becomes really challenging for us because we have to really emphasize the importance of attractives management, (such as) looking after your garbage, your barbecues, (and) any kind of ornamental fruit tree that you may have. Anything like that.
“This spring was significantly busier for us compared to the last few years. It was a really late spring with snow packed quite high, (and) quite late so what that led to was, with bears in particular, kind of sticking lower to the valley bottom longer into the season.”
Wildlife managers also had their hands full with “roadside grizzly bear jams” (when traffic pulls over along a road or highway to watch a grazing bear(s)) well into the beginning of July.
“That’s not typical for us. Physically by that time of year, bears will have dispersed into higher elevations,” Burley said.
The higher concentration of bears utilizing the same areas as humans was a result of the late spring, experts predict.
Whether there has been aggressive behaviour from the bruins as a result of occurrences is difficult to say, Burley said, but some adult grizzly bears in the Banff and Lake Louise areas have showed signs of “teenage behaviour.
“We definitely saw bears that were kind of showing testing behaviour; bluff charging people or getting too close to campsites or campgrounds,” she said.
A lot of younger grizzly were out on their own for the first time this year as well, which always presents “challenges” for wildlife managers.
Parks recommends people travel in groups; carry bear spray and know how to use it, check trail reports beforehand and be visually aware of bear sign on trails. Report sightings of bears, cougars or wolves to 403-762-1470.
