Grizzly bear bluff charges lead to Kananaskis closures, warnings

CBC

6 days ago

Seven bear advisories — five warnings and two closures — are currently in place throughout Kananaskis Country, including at popular hiking trails and in an area near the town of Canmore.
Two separate grizzly bear encounters are behind two of the advisories: a warning at the Bill Milne trail from Wedge Pond to Mount Allan Drive effective July 8, and a closure of the Rawson Lake trail and Sarrail Ridge area effective July 11.
Both cases involved grizzly bears bluff-charging hikers, according to Alberta Parks.
Laurie Brewster told CBC News she was hiking the Rawson Lake trail with her daughter on July 11 when she saw a grizzly bear with cubs charge another group of hikers.
"It gets your heart pounding, for sure, when you can see how fast they run, and you're not sure what their intentions are," she said.
She was a safe distance away from what happened, but said she reached out to Alberta Parks to provide details of what she witnessed ahead of the closure being put in place.
"When she did the bluff charge, we heard people yelling 'bear, bear' really loud," Brewster said.
"I understand it probably is not going to result in an attack when you see them bluff charge, but it's still a scary thing to witness," she said.
Bluff charges typically occur when a bear feels threatened or is caught by surprise, bear safety expert Kim Titchener said.
"If you aren't making noise … the problem now is that bear thinks that you were trying to sneak up on them, and that means that they're going to feel threatened," she said.
"And if they have cubs with them, they're going to feel like you must be sneaking up on them because you want to take their cubs away or hurt their cubs."
"They hear us coming, or they smell us coming, and they generally get out of the way," she said.
But Brewster said the incident she saw seemed to defy that.
"The thing about this bluff charge that's surreal is it wasn't a surprise encounter, because [Sarrail Ridge] is fully open and fully exposed," she said. "So that's why I wasn't understanding why she was running, because nobody's surprised her."
Alberta Parks bear advisories remain in place until the bears in question leave the area, Ministry of Forestry and Parks press secretary Neil Singh told CBC News in a statement.
He said incidents reported between July 11 and 16 include "a grizzly with two cubs charging hikers near Sarrail Ridge, a bluff charge by a grizzly near the University of Calgary Research Station, and a grizzly approaching hikers on the Smutwood Trail before walking away."
He did not confirm how many people were involved in any of the incidents or whether there were any injuries.
Commonwealth Valley and surrounding area is closed effective July 15 due to "multiple grizzly bears frequenting and feeding in the area," according to Alberta Parks.
"The Kananaskis grizzly bear aversive conditioning program, in place since 2000, plays a key role in reducing conflicts and promoting coexistence," Singh said.
Warnings for an increase in black bear sightings are in place for Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park and the Grassi Lakes trail system and neighbouring Reclaimer Trail.
A warning is in place for all Peter Lougheed Provincial Park campgrounds, effective June 18, after "a black bear accessed and damaged an unoccupied tent at Boulton Creek Campground, which contained food attractants," according to Alberta Parks.
It's unclear whether the bear accessed any human food, the warning reads. There have also been other black bear sightings at the campground, contributing to the warning.
Titchener said bears are more likely to be seen along trails and near campgrounds at this time of year as they seek out buffaloberries, which often grow in places that have experienced human disturbance.
"I know that people often want to walk on some of the more popular trails, or they think, 'Oh, I'm in the campground, I'm fine, I'm not going to see a bear,'" she said.
"The reality is that our bear population, they're on the sides of the trails right now, they're in the campgrounds sometimes, because they're seeking out areas where there's lots of berries."
Titchener said bears at campsites are also at risk of being exposed to human food and becoming food-conditioned, resulting in them needing to be relocated or euthanized.
"The bears are feeding on berries, and they walk by a campsite and [campers have] left the cooler out or any type of food," she said. "That bear might be tempted to come in and feed on that food source, which puts that bear at risk for having to be put down."