Parks Canada has suspended its bear trapping program after two young grizzlies, caught in snares, were recently preyed upon and killed by one of their own kind.
Both incidents occurred in the Spray Lakes region of Banff National Park. The trapping was part of a scientific research project on grizzly population and behavioural patterns.
The first bear, a female, was found dead on June 8, when the program veterinarian arrived to do the daily snare inspection. Then on June 12, about 10 kilometres away, they discovered a young male grizzly attacked and killed in the same manner. Officials say it’s obvious that both were killed by another grizzly.
“This is the first time in Banff that this has happened,”said chief park warden, Ian Syme.
“We’ve been in contact with bear researchers and research organizations in North America to talk about whether they’ve heard about this before. One researcher in Yellowstone said that Banff just got hit by lightning twice. That’s how unusual this is.”
According to Syme, usual grizzly behaviour dictates that large adult males will prey on cubs and young bears. However, he says it’s not typical behaviour to take a bear that’s snared.
The shocking deaths have renewed a decade-old debate between Banff naturalists and Parks Canada.
“This tragic event is going to bring all kinds of questions to the floor. Questions that should have been answered years ago,” said Banff naturalist, Douglas Leighton.
Leighton questions the need for continued behavioural research with grizzlies.
“They (researchers with Parks Canada) are constantly out there trapping and handling bears. Why? It’s outrageous when you look at the number of bears they’ve collared. There’s no justification at all for it.”
Leighton believes there are enough studies on behavioural patterns of grizzlies and that current studies are redundant.
“It’s unnecessary to continue this,” he said.
“What we need is merely the basic population monitoring, and that can be done with the DNA hair-snagging method.”
Leighton said the deaths of these grizzlies was due solely to unnecessary contact with humans. He supports bear research but wants Parks Canada to re-evaluate its methods and programs. The DNA method Leighton supports promotes little-to-no human contact with the bears.
In contrast, Parks Canada’s current Eastern Slopes Grizzly Bear Project (ESGBP) aims to capture grizzlies and fit them with radio collars to monitor their population and behavioural traits.
Bears are captured in snares where a cable wraps around the animal’s foot and tightens to hold the bear in place. The grizzly is then tranquilized and a tooth is removed to estimate the animal’s age. It is then fitted with a radio collar for monitoring.
This method is the best way to monitor grizzlies, according to Steve Herrero, bear expert and chair of the steering committee for the ESGBP.
“There really isn’t an alternate method,” Herrero said. “There is darting (tranquilizing) them from the air, but that’s very difficult to accomplish because of the many trees obscuring vision.”
Herrero stands by the snare method and asserts that further study of grizzly behaviour is required before a complete report can be made to Parks Canada. He will be recommending, however, that even more frequent checks of the snares be made.
Leighton disagrees, insisting that North American scientists have completed enough studies on grizzly behavioural traits.
He does, however, agree that population needs to be monitored. The DNA hair-snagging method he supports is already used in several national parks throughout North America.
This method involves setting up a grid system with various scent stations, (scent only, not meat or other food).
The stations lure the bears into the area where barbed wired has been carefully camaflouged at various locals. As the bear moves through the area, its fur is snagged on the wire. Scientists then remove the fur to take a DNA sample, which identifies each bear individually.
These identifications are used to monitor population through an ongoing hair-snagging program. The biggest benefit of this type of program is that the bears have virtually no contact with humans.
“Habituation (where a bear becomes accustomed to human contact) is one main factor in the killing of these bears,” Leighton said.
“That’s the reason why Bear 56 was wandering across a highway and was run over and killed,” he said, referring to a recent incident near Lake Louise.
“That bear was taught to tolerate people and the result was that it was killed. Now these two young bears caught in the snares... their deaths were also the result of unnecessary human contact. The research that qualifies using snares is completely obsolete.”
A long-awaited Parks Canada impact assessment study would show the impact of human contact on bears and determine what form of study is still required - behavioural, population or both, said Leighton.
Parks Canada is awaiting the results of further investigation to complete the impact assessment, according to Syme.
“Firstly,” Syme said, “I think that it (the DNA hair-snagging method) is still in its formative years. There is debate in the scientific community about its value. “In addition, we’re still interested in how bears utilize their habitat, not just in their population.”
Syme said Parks expects to have a completed report from the ESGBP this summer or early fall. That information, combined with research from other scientists, will be used to complete the promised impact assessment study, which has been in the works since last fall.
In the meantime, Parks Canada will be conducting an investigation of the recent deaths. It’ll be evaluating the protocols used for snaring bears and looking at alternate traps.
Ed Whittingham, a director with the Banff Environmental Action and Research (BEAR) Society, said he supports bear research, but bears need far less human contact than what they currently receive.
“I think Parks Canada makes the effort, but we need more co-operation from the public and from policy-makers as well.
“We need a time-out on all development,” he said, referring to expansion projects currently being approved in bear-populated areas.
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