For the first time in nearly a decade, a roughly 2,500-square-mile county in Alberta, Canada, has issued a county-wide “bear warning,” after numerous reports of people being bluff-charged by grizzlies and other dicey situations.
Kananaskis County in Alberta is under a county-wide warning, and some popular hiking trails there have been shut down as grizzlies and black bears gather to gorge on buffaloberries.
Alberta Minister of Forestry and Parks Todd Loewen said there hasn't been a Kananaskis-wide bear warning since 2016, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC) reported.
Bears Plus Crowds Equals Trouble
Alberta resident and bear safety expert Kim Titchener told Cowboy State Daily that the bears have really been piling in to feast on berries because of a bumper crop this year.
“We’re having bears come in from everywhere,” Titchener said.
She’s the founder of the Bear Safety and More organization, and has also spent time in Wyoming’s grizzly country.
The bears in Alberta have entered what’s called hyperphagia, she said. That’s basically a pig-out phase during which bears eat as much as possible to pack on fat in preparation for hibernation.
The trouble is, the bushes loaded with berries are thick around hiking trails, which have become increasingly crowded, she said. As in Wyoming, more people than ever are taking to the outdoors in Alberta.
That’s putting more people, many of them inexperienced in bear country, in proximity to bears.
The CBC hasn’t reported anybody being mauled yet, but there have been numerous close calls.
Keeping people safe from bears, and vice versa, is an uphill battle at times, Titchener said.
“It’s overwhelming when we’re seeing high levels of bear activity on the trails, and the people aren’t doing the things they’re supposed to,” she said.
‘Are Your Planning On Filming Your Own Death?’
Titchener is a big advocate of bear spray for defense against possible attacks.
The problem is, these days too many tourists in the outdoors seem more concerned about getting cool bear videos on their cellphone cameras than they are about safety, she said.
“I ask, ‘Why are you reaching for your phone? Why aren’t you reaching for your bear spray?’” she said. “’What, are you planning on filming your own death?’”
What it boils down to is that bears don’t like surprises, Titchener said.
In nearly every case, close calls are because bears — grizzlies or black bears —are “acting defensively” because somebody came along and interrupted a berry feast, she said.
Staying safe can be as simple people staying alert and being noisy enough to let bears know someone’s coming, she said.
There are many instances of “people walking quietly, people hiking with their ear buds in,” and the like, Titchener said.
More Black Bear, Dog Incidents
While grizzlies are known to be bolder and more defensive, Titchener said there have been more incidents involving black bears in Canada, as well as the Lower 48.
It’s not that black bears are getting meaner, but rather a matter of more people behaving badly around bears.
Loose dogs can be a recipe for disaster, and there have been some run-ins between dogs and black bears this year, she noted.
Titchener also recalled a harrowing incident in Jasper National Park, Alberta, in April 2023 when a black bear snatched a dog right in front of its owners.
The dogs were off leash, and the bear initially bolted when one of the dogs chased it, Parks Canada reported at the time.
The tables turned, and the dog came running back toward its owners with the bear on its heels, Parks Canada reports. When the second dog started barking at it, the bear attacked, grabbing one of the dogs in its jaws.
One of the hikers emptied a can of bear spray at close range, and when that didn’t work started pummeling the bear with the empty can. That also didn’t work, and the bear carried the dog off into the woods.
Wildlife agents tracked the bear down and killed it the next day and discovered that it had stashed the dog’s carcass nearby, according to reports.
Teton County ‘Bear-Resistant’ Bin Wasn’t
In Canada, as in the U.S., there also is the persistent problem of bears being drawn into town by garbage.
Bear-resistant garbage cans are a must in towns and neighborhoods that butt up against bear country, Titchener said.
She noted that in Wyoming, Teton County has made good progress with bear-resistant garbage cans, although it had a hiccup a couple of years ago.
In 2023, about 1,000 garbage containers that were certified bear resistant were distributed around Teton County, but it turns out they weren't. A grizzly ripped one apart in a live test.
“That bear-resistant bin wasn’t as good as was initially thought,” Titchener said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
