Crushed by cars and trains, bears feel effects of human encroachment

November 30, 2003
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Original story - link verified on ,

No one has died from an encounter with a grizzly in the park since 1980, according to Parks Canada, and the last serious episode was in 1995 when a bear mauled four campers, sending them to the hospital. But with 5 million people visiting the park every year and highway traffic increasing by 40 percent on the Trans-Canada Highway alone over the last decade, and still growing, this marquee animal of Canada's marquee national park is the creature in the most trouble. All too often bears are being crushed by vehicles and trains, and the busier and noisier the roads and railway tracks through the park become, the greater the disruption of the bears' habitat as they search for berries and other food and pursue their mating habits. Increasing contact with humans makes bears more dangerous to people, but it also puts them in more danger, experts note. Bears that lose their wariness are three times as likely to be hit by cars or otherwise die from causes related to humans.

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