Grizzly bear 148 faces an uphill battle to survive in the busy and developed Bow Valley, but Parks Canada wildlife managers are keeping close tabs on her in a bid to keep both her and people safe.
One of Banff’s most well-known bears, this female bear has been collared twice before for research purposes, but when her collar fell off in early May, resource conservation officers decided to collar her again so they could keep monitoring her.
Steve Michel, human-wildlife conflict specialist for Banff National Park, said 148 was captured on May 20 and fitted with another collar, and at the time she was in good condition and weighed a healthy 90 kilograms.
“We make a decision on a case-by-case basis on whether to collar grizzly bears for management reasons and in this case there was no question, based on the area she chooses to utilize, that we need to have a collar on her to monitor her,” he said.
“She’s an example of a bear that would be a very high management priority for us. She’s a young adult female, and she’s about to reach breeding age potential and produce cubs in the future.”
Bear 148 is the daughter of bear 64 – one of Banff’s most famous bears who died at age 23 in 2013.
Like her mom, bear 148 continues to defy the odds and make a living in the Bow Valley, all the while navigating a national railway line, highways and roads, and a bustling tourist town that draws more than three million visitors a year.
Just last week, she wandered across the patio at the Juniper Hotel in Banff, located in a wildlife corridor on the north side of the Trans-Canada Highway.
Lauren McCunnell, who is a supervisor at the Juniper, was arriving at work last Thursday morning when she spotted bear 148 munching on grass.
“I didn’t actually see her until I saw her moving,” she said. “Then I thought, ‘I’d better get back in my car’.”
McCunnell said the bear then made her way onto the patio by the bistro. This was about 6:30 a.m.
“This was before we opened and there was no one around,” she said.
“She put her paw up onto a ledge overlooking the Bow Valley, had a wander around and then disappeared. She wasn’t there very long at all.”
It was the first time McCunnell, originally from England, had ever seen a bear.
“I’ve been waiting a long time to see a grizzly bear. It was pretty amazing,” she said. “You expect to see a bear on a hike or something, but not on the patio at work.”
The collar on bear 148 provides resource conservation officers with information on where she is, allowing them to haze her out of areas and have a more formalized aversive conditioning program in place.
There didn’t appear to be unnatural food sources that drew 148 to the Juniper’s patio and luckily there weren’t any people around other than a couple of employees – but Michel said it’s concerning nonetheless.
“It looks like she was purely passing through, but we are always concerned when she takes short cuts like that,” he said.
“This would really underscore the reason she has a collar. We need to know where she is and try to reverse some of her behaviour.”
For the first time, bear 148 has also started venturing out onto provincial lands near Harvie Heights and Canmore this year, and made her way onto the Legacy Trail both inside and outside the boundary of Banff National Park.
Michel said there’s been frequent communications about 148 between Parks Canada and the two different provincial agencies, which includes fish and wildlife officers and conservation officers.
“Certainly if she is crossing between jurisdictions that does provide a challenge,” he said.
“We have good interagency communications, but when different agencies become involved there could be different perspectives on how she could be managed.”
Since she was re-collared May 20, 148 has spent most of her time west of the Banff townsite, along Bow Valley Parkway, the Sunshine interchange, and along the edges of town in places like Vermilion Lakes. She also headed 10 kilometres up the Cascade Valley.
At five-and-a-half-years old, bear 148 is also coming into breeding age and there is a chance she could be bred this year.
“It’s breeding season for grizzly bears right now and that’s obviously a huge factor in bear distribution and movement, and there’s a strong possibility she could be bred this spring,” he said.
“The availability of bears might be something that’s driving her movements, or conversely, if she’s not going to mate, that might be driving her movements to avoid male bears.”
Data from her collar shows bear 148 uses habitat on both sides of the Trans-Canada Highway, and has crossed about 10 times in the last couple of weeks, for the most part using crossing structures.
However, she has also crossed over cattle guards several times, including at the Norquay interchange.
“It’s a worry. She tends to get there and bolts across the highway,” said Michel.
“It’s been surprising, to be quite honest, that she hasn’t been struck already. Based on observations, there’s been some near misses for sure.”
Unlike her sister, bear 160, who is a very shy and elusive bear, 148 does have a high tolerance for being around people and human facilities. That said, she lets people know when they get too close.
“If people are getting too close she will display some low level defensive behaviour, in terms of stomping and short bluff charges,” said Michel.
“She’s a young adult female grizzly bear, so this is not unusual behaviour by any stretch of the imagination”
With her lack of wariness and because of her comfort around people, busy townsites, campgrounds and deadly highways, there are concerns for 148’s future.
“It’s a high risk area to make a living as a bear, and she’s chosen to try and make a go of it it in the Bow Valley and all the threats are there. Accidental mortality could easily happen,” said Michel.
“There’s no question she has an uphill battle in terms of survival. We only have to look at the history of other bears in similar circumstances,” said Michel, noting all three cubs from bear 64’s previous litter died – one on the highway, one on the railway and one unknown.
