'Bear 122' helps researchers understand grizzly accidents

Researchers in Banff are using GPS collars to try to figure out why many of the animals are killed by trains each year.

The five-year research project is being sponsored by Parks Canada and Canada Pacific.

Wildlife-human conflict specialist, Steve Michel, said the goal of the five-year project is to prevent grizzly bears from being killed by trains.

"The ultimate goal for us is to really reduce human cause grizzly bear mortality in Banff national park," Michel said.

Trains are the No. 1 killer of wildlife in Banff National Park.

Cars used to be the biggest hazard, but when park officials installed fences around the highway pathways, the number of wildlife killed by vehicles dropped drastically.

The animal experts have already gathered a lot of data from the first bear theyve collared. They have been watching its movements for more than a month.

The bear, known as Bear 122, has already provided fascinating details about its habits to the team of scientists.

"We found out in the first week or so that not only was this bear using the railway a lot to forage for spilled grain products, but it also began frequenting a site that the town of Banff has been using for curing their compost," he said.

Come for the food...

The team tracked the bear to piles of decomposing food and even spotted it munching on steak bones and corn on the cob.

Michel said it taught researchers an important lessonabout the dangers of bears becoming dependent on human food.

Robert Earl, Banff town manager, said the research project underlies the towns dedication to maintaining the human-wildlife balance.

"There is nothing more important to us as a community than the natural environment and the park we live in," Earl said. "So we take the stewardship of that park very close to heart."

The projects next step is to expand the number of collared bears from one to more than a dozen.

To do that, researchers are using rotting pieces of meat to draw in more of the animals.

Researchers will also look into options for keep the bears away from the trains like fencing or an early warning system.

"We would love to see a day where grizzly bears die of old age in Banff National Park and they don't have to die at hands of a train or a car, or some sort of human-caused reason like that," Michel said.