Trains have replaced garbage as the number one killer of grizzly bears in mountain national parks, according to a new report from Parks Canada.

The report, entitled Grizzly Bear monitoring in and around the Mountain National parks, reports 63 grizzly bear deaths between 1990 and 2008. Of those deaths, 14 were killed in Jasper National Park. Banff National Park had the largest number of grizzly mortalities, with 25 grizzlies killed within the same time period. Of the 63 deaths in mountain parks, 15 were attributed to railway, and another 14 were attributed to the highway.

The report was released a day after the death of a mother grizzly and her cub outside of Banff National Park.

“We’re working with the rail companies on an ongoing basis,” said Banff National Park superintendent Kevin Van Tighem. “Every time we lose a bear, it stimulates more discussion.”

Van Tighem said grizzly bear populations are stable in all of the mountain parks except Banff. The report aims to reduce human caused mortality of female grizzly bears to 1.2 per cent of the population. Jasper National Park’s human caused female grizzly mortality rate average for the past four years is currently at zero, while Banff’s is at 1.7 per cent.

The superintendent attributes high traffic and a narrow valley to the higher mortality rate in Banff.

“Based on the estimates, grizzly bear populations are in good shape with the exception of Banff,” Van Tighem said. “We also have the highest number of aggressive incidents... It’s trickier to navigate in this landscape.”

Since 1990, Banff National Park has had 188 grizzly bear incidents, while Jasper National Park has had 88. Yoho National Park has had 18. Incidents include reported contact charges, no-contact charges and threat encounters. Of Jasper National Park’s 88 incidents, only two were contact charges. That includes the last fatal grizzly bear attack, which occurred in 1992 at the Portal Creek campground.

July and August were the busiest months for encounters.

The report notes that 60 per cent of grizzly bears killed by humans are female.

The Banff superintendent said the rail companies and the parks have been working to reduce the mortality, and he doesn’t want to lay blame for the grizzly deaths. However, he admits more work must be done.

“There’s still unfinished business... but we’re on the right track. We’ve made huge strides in other areas,” Van Tighem said. “We’ve come a long way in garbage handling. People have better education and we’ve come a long way in getting rid of problems in the past.”

Grizzly bears are attracted to spilled grain on the tracks. Rail companies are currently using vacuum trucks to suck up spilled grain, and repairing hopper cars in their fleets. However, the bears still recognize the railway as a source of food.

Less open landfill sites in the park has reduced the number of human caused grizzly deaths.

“In all, this is a good news story. We’re removing fewer bears than we were in the 1970s,” he said.

Between 1990 and 2008, 76 per cent of all grizzly bear deaths were attributed to humans, while 14 per cent died of natural causes. About ten per cent of grizzly bear deaths were classified as unknown.

Between 1980 and 1989, 55 grizzlies were killed in the mountain parks, with 91 per cent of those mortalities attributed to humans. Of those deaths, 17 were attributed to garbage. During that time, six deaths were attributed to the railway.

While reporting methods have changed throughout the years, it is estimated Jasper National Park has about 100 grizzly bears.
“Reporting and verifying grizzly mortality is valuable. It lets us know where the problem is.” Van Tighem said.

Although the railway and highway are the highest source of mortality, Jasper hasn’t had a grizzly bear killed on the road or rail tracks since 2004. Black bears are more likely to be killed on the tracks in Jasper National Park.

The report states the mortality rate is at the minimum end of the spectrum, as methods for collecting data have changed during the past 10 years. For example, if a bear lives in a National park, but is killed outside of the park, it isn’t noted in the data. The grizzly killed Sunday near Banff National Park will not be included in the data. Van Tighem said the parks still don’t have an exact idea of how many bears are in the parks, but data collection is now much more accurate.

“We want to build a regional database, because that’s the scale in which grizzly bears exist,” Van Tighem said.

CPR rail crews have been required to report large mammal mortalities within National parks; however the direction wasn’t included until 1998, according to the report.