There has been an unprecedented number of encounters between people and wildlife in Banff National Park this year, says a wildlife ecologist. This park is located in the spectacular Rocky Mountains in western Canada and is an increasingly popular tourist and campers’destination.
Park officials have been called to deal with more than 1,000 encounters this year, ranging from bears looking for food in tents and charging hikers, to people encountering elk in the town of Banff. That is 33 per cent more than last year. No one has been injured.
Bears congregating in valley bottoms
“A large part of those probably are bear incidents and we know that this year in particular, the snow really persisted for quite a long time in the spring and into the summer at higher elevations,” said David Gummer, a wildlife ecologist at the park. “We did see bears congregating in the low-lying valley bottoms, where we also have a lot more activity from people, so that probably accounts for a large part of the increase.”
Gummer says there are also a lot of young bears trying to mark out territory for themselves and are ending up in areas closer to humans. He adds that park staff have noticed the berry crops are not as abundant as past years. That means bears will likely have to search far and wide for food sources.
Park visitors are reminded of rules designed to limit wildlife encounters such as never feeding animals, obeying warning signs, and properly storing food and garbage.
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