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The death of two female grizzly bears on the railway line in Banff National Park is a significant blow to the population, according to a Parks Canada ecologist.
The two bears were killed in separate incidents last month and reported to Parks Canada by Canadian Pacific Kansas City.
Saundi Stevens, the acting wildlife ecologist with Parks Canada’s Lake Louise Yoho and Kootenay field unit, said one of deaths happened on the evening of May 27. The other happened in the early morning of May 30.
“The ecological significance of losing, especially breeding-age females, it just can’t be overstated,” Stevens said.
“They’re particularly slow to reproduce. Yeah, that slow reproductive rate just means that grizzly bear populations can’t quickly recover from the losses of these breeding females.”
Parks Canada says the first incident involved a breeding female grizzly who was with a well-known male bear, known as Bear 122, or The Boss, at the time.
“Male 122 that was with that first bear, he was uninjured, but he’s quite familiar with the tracks and his core home range is in the Bow Valley, so he’s quite often in and around the train tracks,” she said.
“He seems to understand the speed of trains and the hazards they pose.”
Stevens said the second incident involved a younger female grizzly. She said it was spotted with a second bear, adding they may have been siblings.