Cubs likely denned up for season

Cai Priestly

These grizzly cubs were orphaned when their mother, centre, was killed by a train in spring.

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Two grizzly bear cubs orphaned when their mother was killed by a train last spring have likely made it into a den for winter.

Parks Canada officials say the two yearling cubs, who are not fitted with radio collars or ear tags, were last spotted in the first week of November and appeared healthy and in good physical condition.

“I’d say chances were good that they made it into hibernation themselves,” said Hal Morrison, a human-wildlife conflict specialist in Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay.

“We were pleased to see they made it that far. Of course, the highway and railway track are still of concern when they come out of the den in the spring.”

The cub’s mother, in the prime of her life, was killed on the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks on May 28, 2011, striking a blow to the regional grizzly bear population.

At the time, the cubs’ chances for survival were not considered good, given they had only had the previous summer of 2010 with their mother’s guidance to learn to negotiate this busy and developed landscaped.

Research with the long-term Eastern Slopes Grizzly Bear Project revealed cubs in this region, on average, typically stay with their mothers for about four years.

Morrison said photos of the bears taken in the first week of November show the two cubs appeared to be in decent health, despite a less than good year for buffalo berries in that part of the Bow Valley.

“They definitely had good coats, and they looked round and furry,” he said.

The two bears eventually left the lower Bow Valley in late summer, spending time at the Lake Louise ski hill and then into the more secure backcountry regions near Skoki – the traditional home range of their mom.

The sex of the youngsters is not known, but Morrison said one is definitely less shy than the other when they come across people, while the other one hangs back.

“They’ve got their own personalities and that’s typical of cubs, but one is definitely more of an explorer and investigates more,” he said.

When spring arrives, it’s expected the youngsters will head straight to the Bow Valley in search of the earliest signs of green up.

“I expect they’ll do exactly what mom kind of showed them last spring, before she was killed, and head to the Bow Valley,” said Morrison.

“It’s pretty tough going unless you come right down into the main valley because that’s where the early emerging vegetation is.”

Orphaned bears in this region have managed to successfully den by themselves in the past, including two young-of-year cubs of famed grizzly bear No. 56.

In September 2001, the seven-year-old highly tolerant and habituated female 56, whose home range took in the hamlet of Lake Louise, was struck on the train tracks.

Her two tiny cubs – one female and the other a male – survived and denned up on their own. The female cub was killed on the highway the following spring.

The male youngster managed to survive another summer on his own and made it to the den, but then was killed by a large male bear in 2003 when he was three years old.

“We’ve also had black bears den up on their own… so we’ve got our fingers crossed for these two second-year cubs,” said Morrison.

The mother of the two orphaned cubs was one of four human-caused grizzly bear deaths in Banff National Park last year.

On May 9, a 415-pound male grizzly was killed on the Trans-Canada Highway near Lake Louise, while on July 11, a five-and-a-half-year-old female grizzly was struck on the highway near Castle Mountain. She was found dead two days later about 200 metres off the highway.

On Sept. 28, wildlife managers were also forced to destroy an aggressive six-year-old male grizzly in Lake Louise amid concerns for public safety after the bear trapped a guide and his client up a tree for several hours.

The high number of deaths means Parks Canada has once again failed to meet its scientifically calculated mortality threshold for female grizzly bears, aimed at sustaining the population over the long-term.

There are an estimated 60 grizzly bears in Banff National Park.