Grizzly killed in Yoho National Park road had been orphaned nearby
Bear 128's mother died in 2011 on Lake Louise-area railway
Officials with Yoho National Park say the young grizzly killed on the Trans Canada Highway in the park on Sunday night had been orphaned several years ago.
Parks staff say they received a call around 9:15 p.m. MT of a bear having been hit and injured by a vehicle on the highway about 13 kilometres west of Field and one kilometre west of the Ottertail Viewpoint, where a grain spill had recently taken place.
When parks staff arrived, they found the bear had suffered serious injuries and had to be euthanized.
Officials say they knew from monitoring him that he spent a lot of time near the railway and highway compared to other bears.
His mother had been killed in 2011 on the railway in the Lake Louise area, which is about a half hour drive from Yoho National Park.
The railway also runs adjacent to the Trans Canada Highway.
The bear was one-year-old when his mother was killed on the railway tracks and he and his siblings were often seen in the area throughout that summer.
Parks staff at one point had to capture him to remove porcupine quills from his paw after he was observed walking with difficulty.
He grew up in close proximity to people, roads and railways, and parks staff around Lake Louise and Yoho say they spent a lot of time in hazing and aversive conditioning programs for him.
He was GPS-collared in 2012 and parks staff were able to observe his movements.
They say given the amount of time the bear spent around local highways and railroads, he was at a high risk of being hit by a train or vehicle.
Parks staff say the do not believe the bear died as a result of feeding on grain leftover from a spill at the Ottertail Viewpoint, which had been cleaned up, but rather that he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.