Sometimes I feel like a motherless bear . . . a long way from home.
Banff National Park's grizzly bear No. 66 was struck on the Canadian Pacific Railway line and dragged to her death a little more than two weeks ago. That left three orphans to fend for themselves -- no easy task for seven-month-old cubs that would normally have stayed with their mother for at least the first three years of their lives.
Sadly, this family is now down to a single cub. On Wednesday night, two of the cubs were struck and killed on the Trans-Canada Highway near Banff. Parks Canada will now try to capture the survivor and send it, at least temporarily, to the Calgary Zoo.
It is natural for our hearts to go out to defenceless cubs. The conservation community and Parks Canada have received many calls and e-mails from across the country pleading that something be done to help them. The antics of No. 66 and her cubs had been closely followed this summer as they spent a fair amount of time in and around Banff. Park wardens made a tremendous effort to keep the bear out of trouble. But they couldn't keep her out of the way of passing trains or speeding cars.
For all practical purposes, the Aug. 19 collision between No. 66 and the locomotive took four grizzly bears from Banff National Park, a tally confirmed by Wednesday's deaths. The U.S. Parks Service includes cubs as mortalities when the mother is killed or missing. Stephen Herrero, a grizzly expert at the University of Calgary, and most other professionals agree that grizzly cubs are not the best candidates for captive rearing and return to the wild, and their recommendations are to let the cubs struggle to survive on their own.
This harsh reality does not present a pretty picture.
Our sympathies are understandable, but the real question is: What can be done to reduce the chances of other bears from being killed in Canada's premier national park?
First, we hope that all Canadians and other visitors to Banff National Park appreciate the effort that goes into protecting the park's treasures. In a bid to safeguard bears and other wildlife, vehicle speeds are limited to 90 kilometres an hour on most of the Trans-Canada Highway through the park, 70 km/h in critical wildlife areas (particularly unfenced portions), and 60 km/h on the Bow Valley Parkway. Be extra careful between dusk and dawn.
We can support the government's efforts to provide wildlife crossing structures -- overpasses and tunnels -- and adequate protective fencing to help Banff's wildlife cross the road. Parks Canada is a world leader in reducing the impact of roadways on wildlife, but more remains to be done. We need to support the cost of public safety and wildlife conservation on the Trans-Canada through our national parks. You might consider not stopping when you see that grizzly next to the road. It's usually a short step from comfort around humans to exile to a zoo for park bears. Leave Banff's bears wild.
We can support the trail and campground closures and trail relocations that are implemented in the park. These decisions are made to reduce the likelihood of conflict between park users and bears. Right now, bears are frantically feeding in an effort to build adequate fat stores for hibernation. If we want to do something for Banff's bears, we need to give them space to be bears. Select an alternative park trail this afternoon. And make noise, carry bear spray, and be attentive when on the trail.
Running a national park isn't cheap. But even Banff National Park, a World Heritage Site and the country's top visitor destination, does not have the funds it needs to do the job right. Want to do something for Banff's grizzly cubs? Support more federal funding for Canada's national parks, and smile when you buy your annual pass or pay your park entrance fee.
In the past five years, eight grizzlies (counting the three cubs as mortalities) have been killed on the Canadian Pacific tracks. Most have been attracted to grain spilled on the rail line. At this moment, grain sprouts in a green carpet between west-bound rails in Banff National Park. Wheat and soybeans dribble onto the tracks from faulty grain-car doors and from grain spilled onto the cars during loading. When bears emerge from winter dens, and snow covers most natural forage, spilled grain offers a tempting -- but potentially deadly -- meal. Bears accustomed to finding grain search the tracks -- often with their cubs -- even though significant amounts of grain may not be present. They are no match for a two-mile-long train bound for the coast.
Canadian Pacific has taken steps to address this deadly problem. They have instructed loaders on cleaner procedures, and they operate a special vacuum truck to clean up as much spilled grain as possible. Unfortunately, their efforts to date fall far short of what is needed. If Canadians want to prevent the next deaths of orphaned cubs, we need to urge the railway to do whatever is necessary to keep its tracks temptation-free.
Finally, Parks Canada also needs to do more to protect grizzlies. Too many bears are dying at human hands in a landscape supposedly dedicated to "ecological integrity." Banff National Park needs a comprehensive grizzly management strategy, complete with contingency plans when grizzly mortality approaches management limits. Banff needs to identify locations and circumstances where grizzlies are most at risk, and to implement steps to reduce that risk to tolerable levels. And Canadians need to embrace these needed conservation steps.
We have to reconcile ourselves to the sad fact that bear No. 66 and her three cubs are lost to the park. But other bears, with better prospects, continue to roam our mountain parks. We cannot delay a moment in our collective efforts to do something for them. Banff's bears deserve a better future.
Jim Pissot is executive director of Defenders of Wildlife Canada.