Bear death

Parks Canada study finds 94 per cent of black bear deaths in mountain national parks are caused by humans.

Nigel Douglas of the Alberta Wilderness Association said the findings are alarming and raise concerns about the Parks Canada plan to boost visits 20 per cent over the next decade.

“They will get more and more visits and more and more traffic, and presumably more and more mortalities,” he said. “The parks have to find a balance between managing for wildlife and managing for people.”

Canadian bear expert Stephen Herrero said the report outlines “an ethical situation that is both sad and ironic” because it shows that parks are not a safe refuge for bears.

“There’s hardly a black bear that dies in a national park of natural causes,” he said.

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