BANFF - Three black bear cubs which were found locked inside a public washroom near Vermilion Lakes last year were successfully returned to Banff National Park on Tuesday (July 17).
The three female orphans, now yearlings, were released in a remote area of the park after being flown back from Ontario where they spent the past 15 months at the Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary.
The bear cubs were flown to Ontario last year after an extensive three-day search to locate the mother bear was unsuccessful.
It’s not clear how the three cubs got into the public washroom, however Parks Canada suspects they were left their by someone.
“We don’t have any additional information and it’s impossible to speculate how they got in there,” said Bill Hunt, a resource conservation officer with Parks Canada.
“We certainly believe they had some help from person or persons and we would really encourage anyone who knows anything more about that to please contact us.”
When the bears arrived in Ontario they weighed approximately seven pounds and were on a bottle formula before they could transition to a more solid diet and into a larger area.
“One of the most important aspects was to maintain minimum contact as these were wild animals and we were hoping for a successful transition back into the wild,” said Howard Smith, managing director of the wildlife sanctuary.
Prior to returning the bears to Banff, a Parks Canada staff member flew to the sanctuary to help get the bears into three separate crates before they were flown to Calgary.
From there, the bears were transported to Banff in a horse trailer where they were fitted with GPS collars and an ear tag, before being flown by helicopter into the backcountry and released.
“As soon as the doors opened the bears stepped out, had a look around and actually began forging on some near by vegetation so things looked really good. They looked happy and healthy in their new environment,” said Hunt.
At 50 kilograms he said the bears are very healthy for their age, however he also cautioned that the survival rate for young orphaned bears is lower than bears who still have their mother to rely on.
“Survival of young bears in the wild is not always great,” said Hunt. “For these bears without their mother those chances are a little bit more challenging as well, but I think we’ve done everything we can to set them up for success.”
Smith said the bears stayed together when they were released and will probably remain together for a while before they go their separate ways as they mature and begin to breed.
Parks Canada decided to fly the bears to Ontario because Alberta had a policy that banned the rescue, rehabilitation or release of bears into the wild.
Under the former policy, which came into effect in 2010, at least 25 orphaned bears were euthanized across the province.
Following public outcry, the provincial government promised to review its policy and in April 2018 introduced a new policy that allows black bear cubs to be rehabilitated in Alberta.
The new policy allows orphaned black bear cubs to be sent to wildlife rehabilitation centres across the province as long as they have approved facilities for cubs.
The new policy does not apply to orphaned grizzly bears. Grizzly bear cubs are still euthanized even though the species are listed as threatened under Alberta's Wildlife Act.
