Last year proved deadly for wildlife, particularly bears, on the highways and railway line in Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national parks.
Two grizzly bears were killed on national park roads and another was struck by a train near Carrot Creek in Banff, though it is believed to have survived. There was another report of a grizzly bear struck on the tracks west of Banff, but no evidence was found to confirm it.
In addition, nine black bears were killed on the roads or Canadian Pacific Railway line and another 12 black bears were reported struck by vehicles or trains, but carcasses were never located.
There were also three wolves killed, one cougar, seven moose and 18 elk. On top of the mortality statistics, there were also four wolves, five moose and 10 elk reported struck, but the outcome of those strikes are not known.
“There’s so much variability in mortality numbers over the years and sometimes the averages don’t tell the whole story of all that variability, ” said Alan Dibb, a Parks Canada wildlife biologist for Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay.
“Black bears are a good example where it seems like there is quite a bit of variability year to year, and certainly things are often related to snow conditions in spring and early summer and I think that’s what happened in 2014.”
Black bear deaths were higher than the annual average of 7.8.
In 2013, four black bears were reported killed on the highways and four on the railway line. In 2012, 12 black bears were killed on the roads and five died on the railway line.
Dibb said most of last year’s black bear deaths occurred between the end of May and first week of July.
“Nine black bear deaths for 2014 is one of the higher years in the last 10 years,” said Dibb. “It’s not out of line to what we’ve seen in the past in years when there’s a lingering snowpack and there seems to be more bear activity lingering in the valley bottoms.”
Mortality statistics do not include reported strikes, where it is unknown if animals survived or died. Twelve black bears were reported struck, but it’s not known if they survived or died.
“Sometimes it’s hard to know which species is involved. In some cases we investigate and we’ll find a dead bear and that ends up in the mortality tally,” Dibb said.
“But a lot of times, the bear isn’t found and unless it’s a collared animal we may not know the outcome, and whether or not it survived its injuries in the longer term.”
Dibb said the number of whitetail deer deaths on Highway 93 South in Kootenay National Park has dropped off in the last few years, and even more so since completion of a stretch of fencing and animal underpasses were completed at the end of 2013.
“If you look at the 10-year summary, numbers were on a bit of a downward trajectory in 2012 and 2013, and we do have some evidence from our monitoring work that whitetail deer numbers, at least using roadside areas, may have declined as well,” he said.
Dibb said it’s difficult to say for sure why whitetail deer numbers are declining.
But, he said, there have been large numbers of wolves in Kootenay National Park in the last couple of years.
“We know that we have fairly large wolf numbers in Kootenay National Park, at least in 2013 and 2014, and predation is taking animals, and on top of that, we’re still having highway collisions,” he said.
“Several times in the last couple of years we’ve had groups of up to 17 wolves being seen.”
Dibb said there have been no whitetail deer mortalities within the fenced section of the highway. “We know some are using the underpasses, but some do cross the road outside the fenced section,” he said.
The two grizzly bears deaths in 2014 were two bears fitted with collars as part of the joint Parks Canada-Canadian Pacific Railway joint action plan aimed at reducing bears deaths on the train tracks.
Subadult male bear 149 was killed on Highway 93 North near Hector Lake on July 21. Bear 128, a 4 year-old male bear orphaned when its mother was run over on the train tracks near Lake Louise in 2011, was hit on the Trans-Canada Highway in Yoho on Oct. 26.
Dibb said motorists are asked to stick to posted speed limits and drive to the road conditions.
“There is also the human safety factor in addition to wildlife concerns,” he said, noting that in one of the collisions with a black bear in Yoho National Park, the occupants were reported to be in need of medical attention.
The public is asked to report all collisions or strikes to Banff dispatch at 403-762-1470.
