Grizzly bear survives high-speed Trans-Canada Highway collision relatively unscathed

Extended: Bear 164 spotted post-highway crash Video of Bear 164 recorded days after the grizzly was struck by a vehicle on the Trans-Canada Highway (courtesy: Alberta Parks)

A seven-year-old grizzly bear, known to Alberta Parks at Bear 164, escaped relatively unharmed after being struck by a vehicle travelling approximately 100 km/h in July.

According to John Paczkowski, a park ecologist with Alberta Parks, the bear had been in the Bow Valley corridor when it attempted to cross the Trans-Canada Highway, east of Canmore, at an unfenced section of the highway in the late afternoon, early evening hours of Friday, July 28.

“After being hit by the vehicle, (Bear 164) did run off into the ditch,” said Paczkowski. “It’s not uncommon for an animal, after being struck by a car, to run off a little ways and curl up and die. We fully suspected that that was the case with him.”

“The car was reported as undrivable and we though that we’d be going in to pick up (the bear’s) body after a few hours.” Alberta Parks says there was no indication the motorist or passengers were injured in the crash.

Parks officials had been monitoring Bear 164 for several years and the animal had been outfitted with a radio collar with a mortality sensor in the spring of 2016. “After three hours without any motion we would get a signal from the collar that would indicate that either the collar has fallen off or that the animal is dead.”

“We waited a little bit and the collar didn’t go into mortality mode,” said Paczkowski. “The next morning it didn’t go into mortality mode, in fact he started moving.”

Uncertain of the grizzly’s condition, conservation officers consulted a veterinarian who warned against capturing or immobilizing Bear 164 for a period of at least two weeks. Days after the crash, an Alberta Parks staff member observed the bear walking with the slightest of limps.

“We had been planning to capture him to replace his collar anyways but this was extra incentive for us to have a look at him and understand the extent of his injuries,” explained Paczkowski. “Three weeks later, we had an opportunity to dart him and, when we did dart him, we came in to do the first medical examination, I could not see anything that would indicate that he had been hit by a vehicle, no external injuries at all.”

“I think a lesser animal, so to speak, would have been either mortally injured or killed on the spot by a strike like that but maybe he just caught it at the right angle.”

Paczowski says Bear 164 had bulked up considerably in the last 14 months. In the spring of 2016, the bear weighed approximately 68 kg (150 lbs). Post-crash, the animal tipped the scales at 136 kg (300 lbs).

“He’s out there moving and he’s feeding on the excellent berry crop we have right now throughout the Bow Valley and Kananaskis. Hopefully he’ll put on a few more pounds before winter.”

Bear 164 normally resides in Kananaskis country but he’s known to frequent Banff National Park and has been spotted near the Banff townsite.