Humans leading cause of death for grizzlies, report finds

The main cause of death for grizzlies living in the Rockies is their interaction with humans, an 11-year study into the bears' population trends has found.

The Eastern Slopes Grizzly Bear Project tracked bears living in the Banff and Kananaskis areas for more than a decade. Only one-quarter of female grizzlies and just over 10 per cent of male grizzlies die of natural causes, the study's authors found.

Human interaction, either directly or indirectly, is the main cause of death, Stephen Herrero, a professor of environmental design with the University of Calgary, said.

Their habitat is being eroded, the bears are getting hit by cars, they're hunted – both legally and illegally – and when the animals become a serious enough problem in an area they're either shot or moved to another location.

As well, researchers found the annual birth-rate for bears in Banff and Kananaskis is the lowest in North America. Grizzlies are being driven from their most productive habitats and are, literally, eating garbage.

Poor nutrition is a contributing factor to the low birth rate, the report's authors said. When bears live so close to people, it's easier for them to dine at the local dump than in alpine meadows, the researchers said.

Herrero advocates programs to address food and garbage attractants to prevent grizzlies from getting into trouble.

He's also in favour of having the bears' status changed to "threatened" in Alberta. The change would mean no hunting, and greater restrictions on road construction in grizzly habitat.

"Grizzly bear hunting can be maintained sustainably, but it can only be maintained sustainably if we put it in a context of addressing all the other causes of mortality," he said.

It's up to governments to decide what price they're willing to pay to make sure grizzlies survive in the Rocky Mountains, such as closing recreational trails for a few days or shutting off large tracts of land from oil and gas activity, forestry, coal mining or other industry, he said.

"Bears are under more pressure now than ever," agreed Nigel Douglas of the Alberta Wilderness Association. "We're sort of pushing and pushing and pushing the places where bears live. And some time we need to start saying enough's enough, and we need to take a step back and leave some room for the bears."

• FROM JULY 6, 2005: Alberta closes trails to keep people away from bears

Last week, the province moved to close a number of trails in provincial parks around Canmore and Kananaskis, saying they wanted to keep people away from bear habitats.

A Canmore woman was killed in early June when she was attacked by a grizzly while out running near a golf course.