Bear that trampled tent not identified
Campground, nearby trails reopened
CALGARY • The bear that trampled a tent at Lake Minnewanka in Banff National Park more than two weeks ago hasn’t been identified, but Parks Canada reopened the campground and nearby trails on Wednesday.
After reviewing still photographs from a motion camera, Bill Hunt, the Parks Canada resource conservation manager in Banff, said they can’t be sure about the bear’s identity because the campers hadn’t seen what type of bear it was.
A sample of the bear’s DNA found at the campsite was sent to be analyzed, but if it doesn’t match any of the samples in their system, the clue won’t be of use.
“In this case we closed the area, we watched for a while and sort of monitored for the level of activity. But without any identifiable markings or a marked or tagged bear, it’s really hard to know who’s involved in that particular incident,” Hunt said Wednesday.
The Lake Minnewanka campground and trails will remain under restricted access, which includes a closure of campground Lm8, because the area is a popular feeding area for bears during berry season. Hunt said this is an annual precaution taken every berry season.
Hunt said while walking the trails by Lake Minnewanka, “you can see buffalo berry plants are just dripping with berries,” with bright yellow, orange and red fruit covering the forest floor.
“They’ll be taking advantage of that food source. It’s funny to think an animal that big relies on little berries.”
The restricted access requires hikers to stay in groups of four people or more, carry at least one can of bear spray and keep their bikes and dogs at home.
Two weeks ago, campers were making dinner when a bear caught the scent of an unattended glass of wine in their empty tent. They returned to find the tent trampled and bite marks on their belongings. They alerted Parks Canada, which promptly closed area campgrounds and trails.
Hunt said even though they weren’t able to determine the identity of the tent-trampling bear, still photographs showed two black bears and a grizzly in the area. He hopes people will continue to practise safe camping and hiking with the closures lifted.
This spring and summer have seen other bear encounters. In June, a bear charged a hiker and bit his hand and a bear was spotted at an illegal campsite. Hunt doesn’t think this summer has seen more bear run-ins than in previous years, but believes sharing stories via social media may play a part in why it seems like there have been more.
“It’s always concerning when people are leaving their food and beverages out . . . I don’t think it’s an anomaly, the data we’re seeing this year.”
Bear Safety and More founder Kim Titchener said recent run-ins with bears could be attributed to the high level of visitors in Banff during the summer.
“People think it’s the bears, like the animals are getting more aggressive or there’s more and the population is out of control, but it’s not them, it’s us. We are out of control . . . We don’t put any caps on the number of people going to these trails, so the animals are having to put up with more people,” said Titchener. “Bears come into areas where there’s trails because the canopy of the forest has opened up and the berries are growing. So people see bears more often . . . But the bears are just going where the food is.”