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BANFF, Alta. — When Banff Mayor Corrie DiManno goes out for a run in her Alberta mountain city, she wears a vest holding a can of bear spray, makes noise and retains a watch out for wildlife.
The city in Banff Nationwide Park has strict guidelines round easy methods to get rid of rubbish and has not too long ago renewed an effort to supply its residents free fruit tree removing in an try to scale back wildlife attractants.
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“We all know that you just want a wholesome wildlife inhabitants within the nationwide park and we take that actually critically,” she mentioned in an interview. “We additionally know that, for guests, seeing animals safely — from a secure distance — is a vibrant and particular expertise.”
DiManno, a long-term resident who has been the city’s mayor since 2021, mentioned it’s all a part of coexisting with bears within the Canadian Rockies — a actuality that took a horrible flip in late September when an Alberta couple and their canine had been killed by a grizzly bear throughout a backcountry tenting journey within the nationwide park.
Parks officers have mentioned it should probably by no means be identified what led to final month’s assault, however they and different bear specialists famous these sorts of assaults are extraordinarily uncommon.
“It’s simply heartbreaking and that undoubtedly weighs in your thoughts, due to how we stay within the nationwide park,” mentioned DiManno.
Almost 8,000 residents stay within the city and greater than 4 million individuals go to Banff Nationwide Park yearly.
Parks Canada posted a warning Monday for the complete city of Banff as a number of grizzly and black bears had been within the space searching for meals.
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The warnings are frequent all through the nationwide and provincial parks in Alberta throughout the fall when bears try to placed on weight earlier than winter hibernation.
Instantly east of Banff, the City of Canmore additionally points warnings when bears and different wildlife wander into city and has labored to take away its fruit bushes and different bear attractants.
Caitlin Van Gaal, supervisor of atmosphere and sustainability in Canmore, mentioned the city is getting public enter on a plan to assist residents coexist with wildlife.
“We’re surrounded by provincial parks, nationwide parks. The Bow Valley hall, as it’s for people, is a significant transportation hall for wildlife as effectively,” she mentioned.
“We have to do our half to make sure that we’re not impeding on that as a lot as doable.”
The city’s plan adopted a roundtable with Banff and different municipalities, in addition to the nationwide and provincial parks, in response to a number of bears stepping into human meals and having to be relocated or put down.
Jay Honeyman, a human-wildlife battle biologist who labored in Kananaskis Nation, a cluster of provincial parks and leisure areas west of Calgary, mentioned provincial and nationwide parks are getting the message out.
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“Once I go into the parks, a number of persons are carrying bear spray. I don’t imply the individuals who go to the sting of Lake Louise and take their selfie shot. I imply the people who find themselves within the backcountry or biking or mountaineering,” he mentioned.
“That’s an enormous change from 10 or 15 years in the past.”
Honeyman mentioned it’s change into clear the 2 individuals who had been killed in Banff Nationwide Park had been skilled in backcountry journey and did all the things they might to arrange.
“If something, it was the fallacious place, fallacious time,” he mentioned.
“On the whole, if persons are going into bear nation, they need to do these staple items: bear spray, teams for those who can, managing canine and … securing meals.”
Honeyman famous there have been a number of different deadly bear assaults outdoors the nationwide park within the Sundre and Waiparous space northwest of Calgary, together with two in 2021, which aren’t that distant from the most recent one.
“That’s an space the place 100 kilometres to the west now we have among the most habituated bears on the planet,” he mentioned. “We don’t typically see that type of behaviour in locations like Kananaskis Nation or the front-country areas of Banff the place there’s extra individuals.”
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A grizzly bear researcher who studied GPS-collared bears in Banff Nationwide Park agreed there are bears that look like extra tolerant of individuals, however parks officers have mentioned the 25-year-old feminine bear accountable for the assault had not been collared, tagged or beforehand identified by wildlife employees.
“This bear does have the hallmarks of a bear that was very hungry at what’s already a really hungry time of 12 months for bears,” mentioned Colleen Cassady St. Clair, a professor of organic sciences on the College of Alberta.
“Which may imply it was a predatory assault, however it might additionally imply that that bear was extremely defensive of a territory that she was determined to defend.”
Backpacking in distant wilderness areas includes “a level of danger that’s low frequency however excessive penalties,” mentioned Cassady St. Clair.
She mentioned some individuals, herself included, are probably questioning these dangers now however famous there are additionally advantages to backcountry journey.
“It’s thrilling to be in wild locations with wild animals seeing stunning sights which can be completely unaltered by human presence and human infrastructure,” mentioned Cassady St. Clair. “It’s value a level of danger and it’s well worth the preparation it takes.”
Parks Canada has mentioned there have been three recorded non-fatal encounters with grizzly bears in Banff Nationwide Park previously 10 years, and no fatalities in many years earlier than the 2 final month.
— By Colette Derworiz in Calgary.
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