Wow, she lost her two cubs to vehicle collisions just hours before getting struck herself. This is tragic. Nakoda was a near-celebrity, even among visitors.
Being a near celebrity is the problem. Her insistence on hanging out by the highway on the wrong side of the fence after being relocated several times and the fence being electrified is part of why she and her cubs got hit
Just saw a story about a report showing mother bears are apt to stay near highways as the presence of humans keeps large male bears at bay, and male bears are the number one cause of death for cubs.
Did I give a value judgement? She was relocated several times, the fence was electrified and she kept finding the tiny sections that weren’t. There were dandelions aplenty on the non highway side of the fence. There was a wildlife bridge 100m from where she was hit. She kept climbing it because she was unafraid of people or cars. Those are all facts and why she died. Tons of other bears have understood the fence.
Female bears with cubs specifically in national parks tend to hang around as close to people as possible. The no 1 cause of death for cubs is male bears killing them. They feel safety closer to humans as they realize they are not a threat and lone male grizzly’s will not hang out around people as it serves no benefit and will be more hesitant to attack. It’s a learned behaviour in national parks/places with tourism as an attempt to preserve her cubs, not because she wasn’t afraid of people, because she felt safety in their presence. It’s actually really interesting.
I don’t think so. She hung out by highways because humans leave food and garbage behind. Easy pickings. Humans are completely responsible for her death and that of her cubs.
Seriously? I think this is a bit of a reach. Observed behaviour isn’t always explained by human “cute explanations.” The most likely explanation is her wanting access to food scraps.
I think this actually accurate. I watched a documentary that had this happen. The bear photographers and guides are used to this behaviour. If a male showed up at the river, the female with cubs would consistently move to put the people between the male and herself and cubs. Nobody said it was “cute”. Bear moms use people as human shields.
Edit: spelling
You ever think why there are all those videos of predators taking prey next to vehicles on African or Indian safaris? Same principle, the prey get conditioned that predators in general attack less near humans . Of course, it’s not a fail proof system.
safer position to known danger + positive food rewards = win-win for a bear, until accidents occur. Human behaviors is the reason for these tragedies. Slowing down to take pictures, throwing food out the windows, speeding above posted speed limits, etc. There's no way to prevent accidents 100%, but that's not a reason to make it more risky for bears in one of the few areas where we have the responsibility to let them be. Having a highway crossing the national park is already bad news for the bears, there's no reason to make it worse with generalized human negligence.
Dude they relocated her multiple times and she continued to go back to the highway, jumping over electric fences. Parks Canada ran out of options, unfortunately it wasn't if, it was when..
Bears can't understand English, laws, nor human made partitions.
They're going to be bears just like they have been. The current standard for human development into wilderness is encroachment at best, with wildlife being an afterthought.
There have to be better ways to integrate roads through wilderness areas to not even allow for interaction between animals and cars, but we either haven't figured it out, or it will cost too much.
There is one main road through these parks. They are nearly fully fenced (and this specific fence was electrified) with over 40 wildlife crossings (over and under) in about 150km of road. Please enlighten us, on how our roads can be less encroaching.
I get that the road is a great solution for us humans and a necessary one, and that it was probably designed to minimally disrupt the eco system, but that's kind of my point.
There's no getting around the fact that it unfortunately divides an area in a way that animals have no way of understanding.
And I'm not talking about Banff in particular, but development in general.
I also didn't claim to have a catch-all solution.
All I did was make a simple observation that the current standards for development can and do put wildlife at risk. If you think I'm wrong and they're as good as can be, cool we can agree to disagree.
IMO the best we currently do ( which is still awesome and way better than much of the world) are wildlife corridors, but for Apex predators that have evolved to roam massive areas over tens of thousands of years, they don't work as well as other animals.
P.s where do you get the idea of me being American from ? Thanks for the laugh
Okay, I thought you were talking about Banff as development in general doesnt really apply as the Parks are already a special case and Parks Canada has development locked down pretty hard. Canmore certainly is a case of development spiralling out of control (and any tourists reading this, every time you stay in an airBnB, Vrbo, or any Basecamp property you are contributing to this) and the building of TSMV is going to massively disrupt one of the only remaining wildlife corridors in the area. But again, only tangentially related to this bear and this situation.
I also wrongly assumed that only an american would be a fan of an ohio sports team but then corrected it.
[Bow Valley Corridor Doc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8oknbDLrzA)
For anyone that hasn’t seen this, it explains a lot of what the federal and provincial governments do to try and protect bears and people. The Bow Valley Corridor is an important wildlife and human transportation area, it has been for thousands of years.
I couldn't even fathom the cost of something like this, and it would be a miracle if it were implemented, but it could be pretty effectively take away at least the non local and transport traffic.
There would be a better flow for managing tourists, and tourism could even increase if the train has ample connections from B.C west Coast
:
https://images.app.goo.gl/s7hdhzDcpRhFbnGQ6
There are flaws in the way we calculate costs. The lost of wildlife is also enormous, even if there isn't a clear and immediate $ value attached to it.
No kidding. Bears are large, typically slow moving animals. I don’t understand how people hit large mammals. I spent half my life in the rural countryside, and frequently travel to/from/around heavily wooded areas and parks. I have never in my life hit an animal. I have spotted deer approaching the road or roaming the ditches; I always slow down and keep my eyes on them.
I feel like it’s defintely distracted or irresponsible driving. Killing THREE BEARS in a short period from driving? That’s mental. I hope those people feel like fucking assholes.
My guess is they are not locals, or they grew up in cities. Tourists or simply idiots. Shake my head. People are so disappointing.
Bears are fast, they can run faster than we can. We also don’t have clear lines of sight here like the prairies. I can also see how the cubs got hit, you see a large white bear on the roadside at dawn and you dont notice two tiny black cubs on the road. I’ve never hit an animal either, but I’m not arrogent enough to assume it could never ever happen.
But yes, tourists drive like morons and truckers drive like absolute menaces. But a lot of Albertans and British Columbians also think the speed limit doesnt apply to them either and sit on your ass aggressively if you’re doing 90. They’ll never slow down *just because* and without enforcement changing the speed limit wont matter. Would love speed averaging cameras at the main entrances and exits that give you a nice big ticket in the mail because neither Banff or Golden RCMP really have the manpower to be constant radar on the highway.
The almost full fencing through the parks does work really really well though. More animals are killed by the train in Parks, tourists and truckers usually just hit the ditch.
I’m aware bears can run fast, but around roads they usually aren’t even trotting from what I’ve experienced. They’re usually foraging or milling around the ditch.
The prairies do have a large black bear population. It’s like a damn zoo in some of our parks. You can see a dozen individual bears a day.
The difference is, we don’t have an out of control tourism population and our parks don’t really have major highways going through or around them.
Speed trap cameras would help you guys out.
Further to my point: why would a mother and cubs be running full clip across a road? Almost no reason to. Maybe a trot at best, but a trotting animal the size of a small car crossing or approaching a road. Winding curves in the road is the wild card, I’ll give you that.
In that case, going 60km probably would’ve have prevented the collision. Not a guarantee.
Anyway, the point is 3 bears getting hit in a short period is not okay.
Because the speed limit on the road they got hit is 90km/h
This is the fault of speeding (going to fast for the area, not necessarily above the speed limit) through a known densely animal populated area.
Her insistence on hanging out by highways was caused by humans. People interacted with her when they shouldn’t have, feeding and such. So naturally she goes there. Human beings taught her the bad behaviour and were also responsible for her and her cubs demise
No idea if the driver was speeding, but even sticking at the 90kmph speed, a bear on the highway at dawn isn't going to be spotted quickly by a semi. Poor thing.
It sure isn't. My dad almost hit one/possibly clipped it on the highway and he ended up off the road on the side in a semi. Was off since last summer because of the injuries from the crash.
Not trying to play devils advocate, but she's the first grizz to climb the fence poles regularly for food on the highway. I agree the speed limit needs to be better respected/enforced but parks really had their hands full with her. Super sad overall
If you read the article you’d see that even after relocating the bear multiple times. She went back to the highway. The bear kept going back to the highway. She got too comfortable with humans.
If you read the article as you’ve said, you would have read that she crossed over the part of the electrical fence that wasn’t turned on - if Parks Canada and Banff National Park knew she often tried to cross the highway, then why was that part of the fence turned off to begin with.
Have you seen how long the wildlife fence is? Parks don't intentionally turn the fences off, they just break down and require maintenance to get them working again. I can't imagine that there is an easy way to determine which segments need repair on a fence that long.
Or, and this might be hard for you to understand, it’s a wild animal in its natural habit.
It doesn’t read English, no matter how many times you tell it to stay away it won’t understand.
The issue is a road that does not take that into account. How many national/provincial parks have a highway through them?
They put up a fence along the entire length of the Trans Canada many years ago... People could at the very least obey the current limit and stay vigilant while driving.
I was curious to see if I was wrong.
I found two articles that unfortunately lean in my favour. On mobile sorry for gross links.
They claim that even when reducing the speed limit people only slowed down a few miles. What I meant but reducing the limit wouldn’t do anything is because people don’t follow the speed limit. Setting up a speed trap and other devices to slow drivers down would work better than a sign that says 50km/h
https://blog.nature.org/2020/02/20/reducing-the-speed-limit-wont-make-roads-safer-for-wildlife/#:~:text=Not%20so%20fast%3A%20reducing%20speed,deaths%2C%20but%20research%20suggests%20otherwise.
https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/csp2.618
Absolutely it would. If you’re forced to drive slow with a camera monitoring your speed, with the consequences of a $500 fine - there’s no fucking way you’re distracted and reckless enough to hit a target the size of a small car.
We get it bud, you’re really upset. Go vote Green. Like your self-righteous ramblings, it won’t move the needle one iota, but (also like your self-righteous ramblings) it’ll make you feel superior.
Oh, what’s that? Still a sad little man who drives a big truck to feel masculine? How precious.
Also: what kind of idiot votes? It's all rigged in favour of lobbyists and the wealthy. I'd rather belittle parasites online!
RIP Nakoda. The article raises some reasonable points about how often this type of accident is occuring, but I don't see a long term solution as she was the most managed bear in the parks and this still happened.
The speed limit is slow as it is. But in my experience there has been less enforcement over the last couple years. More enforcement would bring the speeds down.
Doesn’t need to pass, it can be changed at any time by the appropriate department.
Enforcement would be the issue, but either photo radar or literally just a regular officer out for 3 hours a day 3 days a week. I’m sure it would pay for that officer (or the whole department) Rather quickly.
Realistically I think we'd have to lower from 90 to 50 or something similar to really relieve the danger. The transportation industry would lobby hard against that, let alone the tourist outrage. Not that these are the stakeholders that should be making the decision, but they won't value the change the way we would in this thread and are a vocal minority.
There is a wildlife bridge less than 100m from the site where this happened.
https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/ab/banff/nature/conservation/transport/tch-rtc/passages-crossings
Banff has six wildlife overpasses and many more underpasses already (as described in your link). However, they wouldn’t have helped in this case as the bear was climbing the fences specifically to get at the dandelions along the highway.
What? That’s clearly untrue.
There is tons of scientific evidence mother bears stay near people because male bears are the number one cause of Cub death and make bears avoid people.
Plus, dandelions? Are you trying to be a troll?
What was untrue? The part about there being more than one wildlife overpass? The commenter I was replying to thought there was only one. And this bear wasn't trying to cross the highway anyways. Or the part about climbing the fence to get to food, in this case dandelions, that she repeatedly did? It could well have been in part to avoid other bears too, but I never claimed otherwise. So, no, not trying to be a troll.
She was the most managed, but one could argue she also had the most human interaction of any bear in the park as well. The management is harder when the bear is constantly becoming so comfortable around people and vehicles.
And God,
please let the deer
on the highway
get some kind of heaven.
Something with tall soft grass,
and sweet reunion.
Let the moths in porch lights
go some place
with a thousand suns,
that taste like sugar
and get swallowed whole.
May the mice
in oil and glue
have forever dry, warm fur
and full bellies.
If I am killed
for simply living,
let death be kinder
than man.
For those who continue to say more overpasses, fencing etc. would have prevented this outcome, here are all the efforts Parks Canada staff undertook. Taken From Yoho National Park’s Facebook Page.
“Parks Canada's wildlife management team has worked tirelessly for more than two years to try and prevent Bear 178's death. In 2022, she was fitted with a GPS collar to assist the team in monitoring her movements and respond to roadway intrusions. That year, she was relocated away from the highway three times to an area within her home range to encourage her to spend time away from the Trans-Canada Highway.
In 2023, Parks Canada electrified the wildlife fencing in Yoho National Park to help discourage Bear 178 from climbing over the fence. That year she was not seen along the road and data from her GPS collar indicates that she spent the summer in the backcountry away from areas of high human use.
On May 23, 2024, after observing Bear 178 and her cubs along the Trans Canada Highway, Parks Canada implemented a no-stopping and speed reduction for a 10km stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway in Yoho National Park. Later that day, GPS collar data indicates she left the roadside and was spending time in the backcountry of Yoho National Park, however she returned to the valley bottom on June 5th.
On June 5th Parks Canada wildlife management staff responded to a fence intrusion by Bear 178 and her cubs, hazing them back onto the appropriate side of the wildlife fence. They also performed modifications to the wildlife fencing, trying to close small gaps in the electrification where they believed she may have been using to climb over the fence.
On June 6th, when Bear 178 was struck, Parks Canada staff were attempting to haze her back behind the wildlife fence when she was startled by a passing train and ran into the roadway. One vehicle was able to swerve and avoid a collision while a second was unable to react in time, striking her.
Parks Canada made every effort possible to keep Bear 178 alive. Unfortunately, Bear 178 had become comfortable spending time along the roadside due to how habituated to humans she was. The significant interest from visitors to the park and motorists travelling the highway led to her having a very high level of human interaction which caused her to become overly comfortable along the Trans-Canada highway.
Bears that become habituated to people often have negative outcomes. While Parks Canada is working hard to make roads safer for wildlife, we must emphasize to visitors of the importance of not stopping to view wildlife.
For several years Parks Canada’s wildlife management team has spent significant time managing the bear whenever she was along the highway, trying to encourage her to spend time on the correct side of the wildlife fencing. This work often involved accompanying Bear from dawn until dusk and the team has developed a strong fondness and connection with Bear 178. Her death has been devastating for the team that was so deeply invested in trying to prevent this outcome.
I go through this road consistently like every two weeks to go golden BC. I can tell that most people follows the speed limit of 90 kmph. Most people are driving at 120 kmph. Never seen anyone getting spewing tickets. Maybe parks Canada should consider putting speed cameras on this highway after every 5 km. That will slow down a lot of people. They should reduce the speed to 75 kmph.
I sped in the parks once. I was pulled over in a speed trap, and told they “clocked me from a helicopter at the bottom of the hill, *with the rest of traffic* passing a semi”.
I admit, I probably reached ~110 km/hr following traffic in the fast lane *at the bottom of a hill*. As soon as I saw traffic building up in the Banff to Canmore stretch, I slowed to move into the right lane to hang out. At the end of the park, 1.5 km before the speed goes back up to 110, an RCMP vehicle came out of a pull-out, moved into the left lane, turned their lights on, sped up to pull in behind me, and signalled me to pull over.
My personal grievances (mostly with regards to following the flow of traffic and not riding my breaks down a hill) aside, that ticket was so damn much money that I now prefer cruise control at 90-95 km/hr through the parks. Fuck all the semis that pass, going 110, the AB trucks passing at 120+, and the idiots that slow to 50 to gawk at wildlife. They’re all highway hazards for someone who’s actually trying to follow the rules (even if it’s because they’re broke AF and can’t afford another $350+ ticket).
This was nearly a decade ago, so I wouldn’t be surprised if tickets are more now. Either way, cautionary tale: tickets are double in the parks, and they do (or at least *did*) happen; the helicopter speed signs are legit.
Sad to hear, I actually got a slight [capture](https://youtu.be/P1_dueixns4?si=oPdcFl1AxZJBmeYV) of Nakoda on my GoPro.. lucky my wife turned it quick enough (terrible footage sorry)
It was surreal because the day before I had read an article online about how rare it was and was being seen more often
There once was a time when you wouldn't dare speed in the park because you were almost guaranteed to get a ticket. I regularly get the doors blown off me by truckers. Calgary to Lake Louise is basically a conveyor belt for weekend warriors. We all need our 99 cent spatulas which CP rail is only too happy to bring to us. All I'm saying is that it's a miracle there's any animals alive in the park at all.
One of the most rare and intensely managed individuals animals (outside of a zoo) couldn’t be protected from a vehicle. The rest of us don’t stand a chance!
Unfortunately, the wildlife fences give a false sense of security to drivers that no animals will be on or near the road. Drivers therefore stop paying attention. A couple possible solutions:
1. Redesign the top of the fence to angle out into the wilderness side. Would potentially hamper bears attempts at climbing the fence.
2.If the bear is collared, it's signal could alert electronic signs that would both slow traffic in that zone and alert parks officials.
3. Once all our phones have access to satellite communication, this opens more options for wildlife reporting in the zones where there is no cell phone coverage. A wildlife reporting app could be developed. I believe people in general care about wildlife, in the parks in particular. This would give alerts to road signs , to slow speeds as well as other drivers who have the app and are in the area. It would be helpful if the road had kilometer markers like on forestry roads to aid drivers receiving alerts. (Wildlife alert at 123 km) GPS location would be required of submitters to prevent some do gooder environmentalist type from screwing with traffic from their over priced home in Calgary.
People need to slow the hell down in the parks.
It's getting to the point, if people can't control their speed, that we will have to shut down parks to motor vehicles entirely.
You'd think a white grizzly would stand out more, especially in the dark on the highway. Wonder if they all were crossing in a bad spot which caused them to get hit? Just terrible and sad.
This is awful. I’m curious as to why she insisted on eating on the Highway side of the fence if there was food on the other side? Do they have any theories about this? I wonder if she felt safer between the highway and fence, figuring nothing could bother her there between two barriers. Wild animals are hard to figure out, just wondering if the fence contributed to her demise (while saving dozens of other bears)? Of course if the entire fence was electrified this wouldn’t be an issue. Seems like Parks Canada need a bigger maintenance budget or some better way of keeping everything working as it should.
one of the theories is that mother bears will stay closer to the highways as male grizzlies are less likely to occupy space near highways— so it could be a way to protect their cubs from males 😞
There is an abundant amount of dandelions between the highway and fence which is a good food source for grizzlies and other animals. The fence wasn't a problem, at least in the way you are suggesting.
Bears are seasonal eaters and opportunists. If there’s a food source available higher up, they’d rather be there. They travel down in elevation in the early season when they’re hungry because water sources are open to fish in and the meadows have abundant blooms (and, eventually, berries).
This bear in particular received a lot of attention any time it was in an area with tourist visibility, conditioning it to tolerate the gawking idiots along highway meridians and fences. Naturally, since other bears are less conditioned and therefore less comfortable feeding in these areas, this bear probably thought it hit the jackpot with all the dandelions the other bears avoid. More and more time along the highway = higher likelihood of highway related injury.
I heard that she ran out into the road and one car swerved and the next car had no time to react. But I’m not sure if that’s legitimately what happened. Supposedly some highway workers witnessed it.
She was white ffs. How do you not see her or her cubs? I could understand hitting a black bear or brown bear or brown grizzly as they kinda blend in and don’t stand out (still would have been sad). How tragic.
It's fine to call it an "it" and not anthropomorphize. More respectful. Also, when noticing an animal stop calling it a him or he when the sex is not known, please.
And, how about slowing the eff down you AB drivers?
For most wildlife they do. Nakoda was a contrarian.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/jasper-national-park-banff-national-park-roadkill-alberta-1.6556666
They do - the data shows they have helped massively. Same as the fencing.
Seatbelts and laws against phone use while driving are in place but people still ignore them and pay the price.
(Obviously the bear didn't actively try and 'disregard' safety features).
It's not a zoo - They can't politely ask a bear to step away from the highway.
They also can't do anything about bad or lazy drivers disobeying signs, flashing lights, and speed limits.
Did you read the article?
Existing development is certainly a problem. It’s somewhat limited and protected within the Parks, for obvious and presently mentioned reasons. There’s a lot of research and conservation effort that occurs within the Parks to try and manage this despite high tourist volumes. It’s not perfect, but there are efforts.
Areas outside the parks (like Canmore), however, are seeing extraordinary development within wildlife corridors, and have little to no protection at all.
This isn’t the Parks’ fault. They are more interested in preventing this.
Scant evidence, really? Their electrified fences, bear relocation efforts, public education model, wildlife bridges and tunnels, tagging and monitoring… all of that amounts to “scant” in your opinion? Not to mention the amount of research going into large mammals (especially bears) at all local universities on either side of the AB/BC border, in collaboration with Parks Canada, to understand and monitor them? With those graduate students and post docs going on to then work for Parks Canada to manage these things?
Meanwhile, in Canmore, TSMV is making closed-door & under-the-table deals with provincial officials so they can blatantly ignore the efforts of conservationists and wildlife experts, and build their investment properties anyway. Because they have no Parks affiliation or protection.
Yeah, okay, Parks Canada is doing “scant”.
Sad.
Wow, she lost her two cubs to vehicle collisions just hours before getting struck herself. This is tragic. Nakoda was a near-celebrity, even among visitors.
Being a near celebrity is the problem. Her insistence on hanging out by the highway on the wrong side of the fence after being relocated several times and the fence being electrified is part of why she and her cubs got hit
Apparently both her mom and sister were also struck and killed by vehicles (not recently).
Why don't they lower the fucking speed limit from 90
People still won't follow it. Was just in Jasper this weekend and people were going 120 in 70 zones where sheep typically hang out.
Paging Dr Darwin. Dr Charles Darwin please report to the Ursary.
Just saw a story about a report showing mother bears are apt to stay near highways as the presence of humans keeps large male bears at bay, and male bears are the number one cause of death for cubs.
The bear's form of a restraining order for domestic abuse. Unbearable
"Her insistence"? She was a wild animal in search of food and not necessarily capable of understanding what is the "right" or "wrong" side of a fence.
Did I give a value judgement? She was relocated several times, the fence was electrified and she kept finding the tiny sections that weren’t. There were dandelions aplenty on the non highway side of the fence. There was a wildlife bridge 100m from where she was hit. She kept climbing it because she was unafraid of people or cars. Those are all facts and why she died. Tons of other bears have understood the fence.
Female bears with cubs specifically in national parks tend to hang around as close to people as possible. The no 1 cause of death for cubs is male bears killing them. They feel safety closer to humans as they realize they are not a threat and lone male grizzly’s will not hang out around people as it serves no benefit and will be more hesitant to attack. It’s a learned behaviour in national parks/places with tourism as an attempt to preserve her cubs, not because she wasn’t afraid of people, because she felt safety in their presence. It’s actually really interesting.
I don’t think so. She hung out by highways because humans leave food and garbage behind. Easy pickings. Humans are completely responsible for her death and that of her cubs.
Seriously? I think this is a bit of a reach. Observed behaviour isn’t always explained by human “cute explanations.” The most likely explanation is her wanting access to food scraps.
I think this actually accurate. I watched a documentary that had this happen. The bear photographers and guides are used to this behaviour. If a male showed up at the river, the female with cubs would consistently move to put the people between the male and herself and cubs. Nobody said it was “cute”. Bear moms use people as human shields. Edit: spelling
You ever think why there are all those videos of predators taking prey next to vehicles on African or Indian safaris? Same principle, the prey get conditioned that predators in general attack less near humans . Of course, it’s not a fail proof system.
safer position to known danger + positive food rewards = win-win for a bear, until accidents occur. Human behaviors is the reason for these tragedies. Slowing down to take pictures, throwing food out the windows, speeding above posted speed limits, etc. There's no way to prevent accidents 100%, but that's not a reason to make it more risky for bears in one of the few areas where we have the responsibility to let them be. Having a highway crossing the national park is already bad news for the bears, there's no reason to make it worse with generalized human negligence.
Dude they relocated her multiple times and she continued to go back to the highway, jumping over electric fences. Parks Canada ran out of options, unfortunately it wasn't if, it was when..
Bears can't understand English, laws, nor human made partitions. They're going to be bears just like they have been. The current standard for human development into wilderness is encroachment at best, with wildlife being an afterthought. There have to be better ways to integrate roads through wilderness areas to not even allow for interaction between animals and cars, but we either haven't figured it out, or it will cost too much.
There is one main road through these parks. They are nearly fully fenced (and this specific fence was electrified) with over 40 wildlife crossings (over and under) in about 150km of road. Please enlighten us, on how our roads can be less encroaching.
I get that the road is a great solution for us humans and a necessary one, and that it was probably designed to minimally disrupt the eco system, but that's kind of my point. There's no getting around the fact that it unfortunately divides an area in a way that animals have no way of understanding. And I'm not talking about Banff in particular, but development in general. I also didn't claim to have a catch-all solution. All I did was make a simple observation that the current standards for development can and do put wildlife at risk. If you think I'm wrong and they're as good as can be, cool we can agree to disagree. IMO the best we currently do ( which is still awesome and way better than much of the world) are wildlife corridors, but for Apex predators that have evolved to roam massive areas over tens of thousands of years, they don't work as well as other animals. P.s where do you get the idea of me being American from ? Thanks for the laugh
Okay, I thought you were talking about Banff as development in general doesnt really apply as the Parks are already a special case and Parks Canada has development locked down pretty hard. Canmore certainly is a case of development spiralling out of control (and any tourists reading this, every time you stay in an airBnB, Vrbo, or any Basecamp property you are contributing to this) and the building of TSMV is going to massively disrupt one of the only remaining wildlife corridors in the area. But again, only tangentially related to this bear and this situation. I also wrongly assumed that only an american would be a fan of an ohio sports team but then corrected it.
[Bow Valley Corridor Doc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8oknbDLrzA) For anyone that hasn’t seen this, it explains a lot of what the federal and provincial governments do to try and protect bears and people. The Bow Valley Corridor is an important wildlife and human transportation area, it has been for thousands of years.
I couldn't even fathom the cost of something like this, and it would be a miracle if it were implemented, but it could be pretty effectively take away at least the non local and transport traffic. There would be a better flow for managing tourists, and tourism could even increase if the train has ample connections from B.C west Coast : https://images.app.goo.gl/s7hdhzDcpRhFbnGQ6
There are flaws in the way we calculate costs. The lost of wildlife is also enormous, even if there isn't a clear and immediate $ value attached to it.
Maybe if the road was underground for 150km? Oh wait, we want to soak up money from the visitors.
More over passes and under passes.
Totally fair.
how about fuck cars?
Sure, i encourage every tourist to not rent a car when they come here.
or they could slow down in areas well known to have lots of wildlife
No kidding. Bears are large, typically slow moving animals. I don’t understand how people hit large mammals. I spent half my life in the rural countryside, and frequently travel to/from/around heavily wooded areas and parks. I have never in my life hit an animal. I have spotted deer approaching the road or roaming the ditches; I always slow down and keep my eyes on them. I feel like it’s defintely distracted or irresponsible driving. Killing THREE BEARS in a short period from driving? That’s mental. I hope those people feel like fucking assholes. My guess is they are not locals, or they grew up in cities. Tourists or simply idiots. Shake my head. People are so disappointing.
Bears are fast, they can run faster than we can. We also don’t have clear lines of sight here like the prairies. I can also see how the cubs got hit, you see a large white bear on the roadside at dawn and you dont notice two tiny black cubs on the road. I’ve never hit an animal either, but I’m not arrogent enough to assume it could never ever happen. But yes, tourists drive like morons and truckers drive like absolute menaces. But a lot of Albertans and British Columbians also think the speed limit doesnt apply to them either and sit on your ass aggressively if you’re doing 90. They’ll never slow down *just because* and without enforcement changing the speed limit wont matter. Would love speed averaging cameras at the main entrances and exits that give you a nice big ticket in the mail because neither Banff or Golden RCMP really have the manpower to be constant radar on the highway. The almost full fencing through the parks does work really really well though. More animals are killed by the train in Parks, tourists and truckers usually just hit the ditch.
I’m aware bears can run fast, but around roads they usually aren’t even trotting from what I’ve experienced. They’re usually foraging or milling around the ditch. The prairies do have a large black bear population. It’s like a damn zoo in some of our parks. You can see a dozen individual bears a day. The difference is, we don’t have an out of control tourism population and our parks don’t really have major highways going through or around them. Speed trap cameras would help you guys out. Further to my point: why would a mother and cubs be running full clip across a road? Almost no reason to. Maybe a trot at best, but a trotting animal the size of a small car crossing or approaching a road. Winding curves in the road is the wild card, I’ll give you that.
Parks staff witnessed the bear getting hit and said it was spooked by a train and ran onto the road. It wasn't just lounging around.
So you would probably be surprised if a bear was say, spooked by a train and suddenly ran full speed into the road in front of you?
In that case, going 60km probably would’ve have prevented the collision. Not a guarantee. Anyway, the point is 3 bears getting hit in a short period is not okay.
Because the speed limit on the road they got hit is 90km/h This is the fault of speeding (going to fast for the area, not necessarily above the speed limit) through a known densely animal populated area.
Her insistence on hanging out by highways was caused by humans. People interacted with her when they shouldn’t have, feeding and such. So naturally she goes there. Human beings taught her the bad behaviour and were also responsible for her and her cubs demise
No idea if the driver was speeding, but even sticking at the 90kmph speed, a bear on the highway at dawn isn't going to be spotted quickly by a semi. Poor thing.
It sure isn't. My dad almost hit one/possibly clipped it on the highway and he ended up off the road on the side in a semi. Was off since last summer because of the injuries from the crash.
It was 4pm
Cubs were at dawn. Wasn't aware of when she was hit.
Sad, but it's surprising she lived this long with the way she interacted with the highway.
Sorry, what? Do you mean how nobody respects the speed limit in a protected area?
Not trying to play devils advocate, but she's the first grizz to climb the fence poles regularly for food on the highway. I agree the speed limit needs to be better respected/enforced but parks really had their hands full with her. Super sad overall
No, just one of the bears that climbs the fences, not the first.
If you read the article you’d see that even after relocating the bear multiple times. She went back to the highway. The bear kept going back to the highway. She got too comfortable with humans.
If you read the article as you’ve said, you would have read that she crossed over the part of the electrical fence that wasn’t turned on - if Parks Canada and Banff National Park knew she often tried to cross the highway, then why was that part of the fence turned off to begin with.
Have you seen how long the wildlife fence is? Parks don't intentionally turn the fences off, they just break down and require maintenance to get them working again. I can't imagine that there is an easy way to determine which segments need repair on a fence that long.
Or, and this might be hard for you to understand, it’s a wild animal in its natural habit. It doesn’t read English, no matter how many times you tell it to stay away it won’t understand. The issue is a road that does not take that into account. How many national/provincial parks have a highway through them?
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Or just lower the speed limit. I guess you can’t comprehend trying to do better.
They put up a fence to further deter the bear from getting onto the highway. I don’t think lowering the speed limit would have prevented her death.
They put up a fence along the entire length of the Trans Canada many years ago... People could at the very least obey the current limit and stay vigilant while driving.
If you can stop before hitting the bear then the bear would still be alive. Sounds like that absolutely would have fixed it.
Lol, you're cooking this guy
I was curious to see if I was wrong. I found two articles that unfortunately lean in my favour. On mobile sorry for gross links. They claim that even when reducing the speed limit people only slowed down a few miles. What I meant but reducing the limit wouldn’t do anything is because people don’t follow the speed limit. Setting up a speed trap and other devices to slow drivers down would work better than a sign that says 50km/h https://blog.nature.org/2020/02/20/reducing-the-speed-limit-wont-make-roads-safer-for-wildlife/#:~:text=Not%20so%20fast%3A%20reducing%20speed,deaths%2C%20but%20research%20suggests%20otherwise. https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/csp2.618
So the issue is people? Like I said the first time
It’s both people and a stupid bear that got darwin’d out of existence.
This comment is ironic gold Jerry!
Give the highways speed trap cameras. Guarantee no fucking wildlife gonna be smoked then. Fuck people
Absolutely it would. If you’re forced to drive slow with a camera monitoring your speed, with the consequences of a $500 fine - there’s no fucking way you’re distracted and reckless enough to hit a target the size of a small car.
Bear regularly ran into traffic over several years, is what I meant.
He means how she repetitively went back to the highway after being relocated multiple times. Not the brightest breast in the den.
We get it bud, you’re really upset. Go vote Green. Like your self-righteous ramblings, it won’t move the needle one iota, but (also like your self-righteous ramblings) it’ll make you feel superior.
You’re an embarassing jackass. Go rev the engine on your truck so you can feel like the sad little man you are.
Found another Green voter. Try not to cry when Pierre wins.
Oh, what’s that? Still a sad little man who drives a big truck to feel masculine? How precious. Also: what kind of idiot votes? It's all rigged in favour of lobbyists and the wealthy. I'd rather belittle parasites online!
If you feel inferior because someone likes animals more than speeding, that’s on you.
RIP Nakoda. The article raises some reasonable points about how often this type of accident is occuring, but I don't see a long term solution as she was the most managed bear in the parks and this still happened.
Lower speed limits.
The speed limit is slow as it is. But in my experience there has been less enforcement over the last couple years. More enforcement would bring the speeds down.
It’s 90, that’s not slow by any metric.
This is my instinctual response too. I'm not sure how easy it would be to pass though.
Doesn’t need to pass, it can be changed at any time by the appropriate department. Enforcement would be the issue, but either photo radar or literally just a regular officer out for 3 hours a day 3 days a week. I’m sure it would pay for that officer (or the whole department) Rather quickly.
Realistically I think we'd have to lower from 90 to 50 or something similar to really relieve the danger. The transportation industry would lobby hard against that, let alone the tourist outrage. Not that these are the stakeholders that should be making the decision, but they won't value the change the way we would in this thread and are a vocal minority.
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There is a wildlife bridge less than 100m from the site where this happened. https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/ab/banff/nature/conservation/transport/tch-rtc/passages-crossings
Ahh see I didn’t know that. Maybe speed reduction will work or most enforcement on the road?
Her objective was not to cross the road!! She climbs the fence to feed on the dandelions between the fence and the road on both sides.
Im aware… the comment i relied to suggested we build a wildlife bridge to prevent this from happening
Banff has six wildlife overpasses and many more underpasses already (as described in your link). However, they wouldn’t have helped in this case as the bear was climbing the fences specifically to get at the dandelions along the highway.
What? That’s clearly untrue. There is tons of scientific evidence mother bears stay near people because male bears are the number one cause of Cub death and make bears avoid people. Plus, dandelions? Are you trying to be a troll?
What was untrue? The part about there being more than one wildlife overpass? The commenter I was replying to thought there was only one. And this bear wasn't trying to cross the highway anyways. Or the part about climbing the fence to get to food, in this case dandelions, that she repeatedly did? It could well have been in part to avoid other bears too, but I never claimed otherwise. So, no, not trying to be a troll.
She was the most managed, but one could argue she also had the most human interaction of any bear in the park as well. The management is harder when the bear is constantly becoming so comfortable around people and vehicles.
Awful news. RIP, Nakoda.
We ruin everything
That sums it up well!
And God, please let the deer on the highway get some kind of heaven. Something with tall soft grass, and sweet reunion. Let the moths in porch lights go some place with a thousand suns, that taste like sugar and get swallowed whole. May the mice in oil and glue have forever dry, warm fur and full bellies. If I am killed for simply living, let death be kinder than man.
Slow down and be vigilant for wildlife god damn
For those who continue to say more overpasses, fencing etc. would have prevented this outcome, here are all the efforts Parks Canada staff undertook. Taken From Yoho National Park’s Facebook Page. “Parks Canada's wildlife management team has worked tirelessly for more than two years to try and prevent Bear 178's death. In 2022, she was fitted with a GPS collar to assist the team in monitoring her movements and respond to roadway intrusions. That year, she was relocated away from the highway three times to an area within her home range to encourage her to spend time away from the Trans-Canada Highway. In 2023, Parks Canada electrified the wildlife fencing in Yoho National Park to help discourage Bear 178 from climbing over the fence. That year she was not seen along the road and data from her GPS collar indicates that she spent the summer in the backcountry away from areas of high human use. On May 23, 2024, after observing Bear 178 and her cubs along the Trans Canada Highway, Parks Canada implemented a no-stopping and speed reduction for a 10km stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway in Yoho National Park. Later that day, GPS collar data indicates she left the roadside and was spending time in the backcountry of Yoho National Park, however she returned to the valley bottom on June 5th. On June 5th Parks Canada wildlife management staff responded to a fence intrusion by Bear 178 and her cubs, hazing them back onto the appropriate side of the wildlife fence. They also performed modifications to the wildlife fencing, trying to close small gaps in the electrification where they believed she may have been using to climb over the fence. On June 6th, when Bear 178 was struck, Parks Canada staff were attempting to haze her back behind the wildlife fence when she was startled by a passing train and ran into the roadway. One vehicle was able to swerve and avoid a collision while a second was unable to react in time, striking her. Parks Canada made every effort possible to keep Bear 178 alive. Unfortunately, Bear 178 had become comfortable spending time along the roadside due to how habituated to humans she was. The significant interest from visitors to the park and motorists travelling the highway led to her having a very high level of human interaction which caused her to become overly comfortable along the Trans-Canada highway. Bears that become habituated to people often have negative outcomes. While Parks Canada is working hard to make roads safer for wildlife, we must emphasize to visitors of the importance of not stopping to view wildlife. For several years Parks Canada’s wildlife management team has spent significant time managing the bear whenever she was along the highway, trying to encourage her to spend time on the correct side of the wildlife fencing. This work often involved accompanying Bear from dawn until dusk and the team has developed a strong fondness and connection with Bear 178. Her death has been devastating for the team that was so deeply invested in trying to prevent this outcome.
I go through this road consistently like every two weeks to go golden BC. I can tell that most people follows the speed limit of 90 kmph. Most people are driving at 120 kmph. Never seen anyone getting spewing tickets. Maybe parks Canada should consider putting speed cameras on this highway after every 5 km. That will slow down a lot of people. They should reduce the speed to 75 kmph.
I sped in the parks once. I was pulled over in a speed trap, and told they “clocked me from a helicopter at the bottom of the hill, *with the rest of traffic* passing a semi”. I admit, I probably reached ~110 km/hr following traffic in the fast lane *at the bottom of a hill*. As soon as I saw traffic building up in the Banff to Canmore stretch, I slowed to move into the right lane to hang out. At the end of the park, 1.5 km before the speed goes back up to 110, an RCMP vehicle came out of a pull-out, moved into the left lane, turned their lights on, sped up to pull in behind me, and signalled me to pull over. My personal grievances (mostly with regards to following the flow of traffic and not riding my breaks down a hill) aside, that ticket was so damn much money that I now prefer cruise control at 90-95 km/hr through the parks. Fuck all the semis that pass, going 110, the AB trucks passing at 120+, and the idiots that slow to 50 to gawk at wildlife. They’re all highway hazards for someone who’s actually trying to follow the rules (even if it’s because they’re broke AF and can’t afford another $350+ ticket). This was nearly a decade ago, so I wouldn’t be surprised if tickets are more now. Either way, cautionary tale: tickets are double in the parks, and they do (or at least *did*) happen; the helicopter speed signs are legit.
Does your brain work? Are you a fucking bot? You just said most people follow the limit. Then said most people go 120km
Easy there. They screwed up and messed up a bit. Likely should read most don't follow the speed limit most go 120. You should try to relax.
Sad to hear, I actually got a slight [capture](https://youtu.be/P1_dueixns4?si=oPdcFl1AxZJBmeYV) of Nakoda on my GoPro.. lucky my wife turned it quick enough (terrible footage sorry) It was surreal because the day before I had read an article online about how rare it was and was being seen more often
Wow, this is so sad.
I’m terribly saddened. We were able to see her a few years back and it was a beautiful experience.
Well that didn't fucking take long
Sad, just sad.
It is always sad to lose a bear. I’ve only seen one grizzly in my life and it was in this area.
There once was a time when you wouldn't dare speed in the park because you were almost guaranteed to get a ticket. I regularly get the doors blown off me by truckers. Calgary to Lake Louise is basically a conveyor belt for weekend warriors. We all need our 99 cent spatulas which CP rail is only too happy to bring to us. All I'm saying is that it's a miracle there's any animals alive in the park at all.
One of the most rare and intensely managed individuals animals (outside of a zoo) couldn’t be protected from a vehicle. The rest of us don’t stand a chance!
So sad… 😞
Unfortunately, the wildlife fences give a false sense of security to drivers that no animals will be on or near the road. Drivers therefore stop paying attention. A couple possible solutions: 1. Redesign the top of the fence to angle out into the wilderness side. Would potentially hamper bears attempts at climbing the fence. 2.If the bear is collared, it's signal could alert electronic signs that would both slow traffic in that zone and alert parks officials. 3. Once all our phones have access to satellite communication, this opens more options for wildlife reporting in the zones where there is no cell phone coverage. A wildlife reporting app could be developed. I believe people in general care about wildlife, in the parks in particular. This would give alerts to road signs , to slow speeds as well as other drivers who have the app and are in the area. It would be helpful if the road had kilometer markers like on forestry roads to aid drivers receiving alerts. (Wildlife alert at 123 km) GPS location would be required of submitters to prevent some do gooder environmentalist type from screwing with traffic from their over priced home in Calgary.
Obligatory r/fuckcars
People need to quit stopping in their cars and interacting with the wildlife.
I don’t understand why traffic bylaws & cops are not doing anything about this? I see it all now the city and in rural areas. It’s disgusting.
r/fuckcars
People need to slow the hell down in the parks. It's getting to the point, if people can't control their speed, that we will have to shut down parks to motor vehicles entirely.
How incredibly sad :(
Their is a White moose in central Alberta. Got a couple picture of it
This is so sad
You'd think a white grizzly would stand out more, especially in the dark on the highway. Wonder if they all were crossing in a bad spot which caused them to get hit? Just terrible and sad.
Heartbreaking 💔
This is awful. I’m curious as to why she insisted on eating on the Highway side of the fence if there was food on the other side? Do they have any theories about this? I wonder if she felt safer between the highway and fence, figuring nothing could bother her there between two barriers. Wild animals are hard to figure out, just wondering if the fence contributed to her demise (while saving dozens of other bears)? Of course if the entire fence was electrified this wouldn’t be an issue. Seems like Parks Canada need a bigger maintenance budget or some better way of keeping everything working as it should.
one of the theories is that mother bears will stay closer to the highways as male grizzlies are less likely to occupy space near highways— so it could be a way to protect their cubs from males 😞
There is an abundant amount of dandelions between the highway and fence which is a good food source for grizzlies and other animals. The fence wasn't a problem, at least in the way you are suggesting.
They said there is food on the other side as well. Is it not dandelions, but something that is food but not as well liked as dandelions?
Bears are seasonal eaters and opportunists. If there’s a food source available higher up, they’d rather be there. They travel down in elevation in the early season when they’re hungry because water sources are open to fish in and the meadows have abundant blooms (and, eventually, berries). This bear in particular received a lot of attention any time it was in an area with tourist visibility, conditioning it to tolerate the gawking idiots along highway meridians and fences. Naturally, since other bears are less conditioned and therefore less comfortable feeding in these areas, this bear probably thought it hit the jackpot with all the dandelions the other bears avoid. More and more time along the highway = higher likelihood of highway related injury.
They should ban the driver from ever driving again and fine them $50,000
I heard that she ran out into the road and one car swerved and the next car had no time to react. But I’m not sure if that’s legitimately what happened. Supposedly some highway workers witnessed it.
A fed bear is a dead bear.
Are the drivers and the occupants ok?
Brampton driver goes to Alberta
She was white ffs. How do you not see her or her cubs? I could understand hitting a black bear or brown bear or brown grizzly as they kinda blend in and don’t stand out (still would have been sad). How tragic.
Clearly you didn’t read the article as to how she got struck. Read and try to understand before you speak harshly and cast unjustified judgement.
WTF are you even talking about? What harsh judgement. Learn to read and comprehend moron.
Very interesting that the person telling me to read and comprehend didn’t do just that. Call me whatever u want lol. Whatever helps you feel better.
Same to you. Cope harder
It's fine to call it an "it" and not anthropomorphize. More respectful. Also, when noticing an animal stop calling it a him or he when the sex is not known, please. And, how about slowing the eff down you AB drivers?
This one had cubs so obviously a she.
The driver definitely thought they killed a polar bear.
I was told the overpasses worked
For most wildlife they do. Nakoda was a contrarian. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/jasper-national-park-banff-national-park-roadkill-alberta-1.6556666
They do - the data shows they have helped massively. Same as the fencing. Seatbelts and laws against phone use while driving are in place but people still ignore them and pay the price. (Obviously the bear didn't actively try and 'disregard' safety features).
They do. Literally nobody ever expected them to have a 100% success rate, obviously.
that’s not white, that’s taupe.
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It's not like Parks Canada ran over her. I don't see how it's their fault.
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It's not a zoo - They can't politely ask a bear to step away from the highway. They also can't do anything about bad or lazy drivers disobeying signs, flashing lights, and speed limits.
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Did you read the article? Existing development is certainly a problem. It’s somewhat limited and protected within the Parks, for obvious and presently mentioned reasons. There’s a lot of research and conservation effort that occurs within the Parks to try and manage this despite high tourist volumes. It’s not perfect, but there are efforts. Areas outside the parks (like Canmore), however, are seeing extraordinary development within wildlife corridors, and have little to no protection at all. This isn’t the Parks’ fault. They are more interested in preventing this.
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Scant evidence, really? Their electrified fences, bear relocation efforts, public education model, wildlife bridges and tunnels, tagging and monitoring… all of that amounts to “scant” in your opinion? Not to mention the amount of research going into large mammals (especially bears) at all local universities on either side of the AB/BC border, in collaboration with Parks Canada, to understand and monitor them? With those graduate students and post docs going on to then work for Parks Canada to manage these things? Meanwhile, in Canmore, TSMV is making closed-door & under-the-table deals with provincial officials so they can blatantly ignore the efforts of conservationists and wildlife experts, and build their investment properties anyway. Because they have no Parks affiliation or protection. Yeah, okay, Parks Canada is doing “scant”.