Grizzlies use B.C. roadkill dumps as feeding grounds, says researcher

In 2016, Clayton Lamb set out to investigate how many unreported grizzly bear deaths were occurring in the southern Rockies of British Columbia.

As part of his PhD study, he collared about a dozen grizzlies and tracked them using GPS.

Following their movements across the Kootenays, Lambwanted to see if they werekilled at the hands of people and where.

But while tracking their movements, the grizzly bear biologistmade another discovery.

A number of bearswere congregating by roadside gravel pits that were filled with the carcasses of animals killed by road accidents.

The dead wildlifewere placed there by contractorsfor the province who had removed their bodies from highways.Every few days, they'd dump various animals, including moose, elk, deer and bears into the gravel ditches and eventually bury them.

Grizzly bears were drawn to these pits and were feeding off them.

"We noticed that a number of the bears that we were tracking were sort of congregating on certain locations during the year," Lamb said.

But some of these dumping siteswere located near highways, restaurants and sometimes within a kilometre of a community, putting wildlife and people in a dangerous situation.

"It puts them into conflict with people, just due to proximity," Lamb said.

Curious to see it for himself, Lamb set up a camera at a pit near Hosmer,B.C., about 100 kilometres east of Cranbrook.

The footage provided proofthe pits had become regular feeding grounds overnight for grizzly bears and other wildlife.

Grizzlies feast on roadkill

5 years ago

Duration 0:45

Bear biologist Clayton Lamb sets up a motion sensor camera to capture grizzly bears feasting on roadkill dumpsites in B.C.

Lambknew something had to be done, so he contacted the Ministry of Transportationand persuaded itto upgrade the carcass pits.

As a result, the ministry designed new pits with concrete walls and an electric fence perimeter. The new designwas unveiled in Elko, B.C., about 20 kilometres north of the U.S. border,last month.

The province is keeping a close eye on how well the new design works. So far,grizzly bears havebypassed the pits, said a spokesperson who praised Lamb's initiative.

A second facility is slated for Sparwood, B.C. in spring 2020.

Lamb says there's potential for the infrastructure to be put to use at more pits frequented by grizzly bears between Cranbrook and the Albertaborder.

"It's a good news story of science and people coming together to find some creative solutions to allow humans to coexist in the Rockies."