Every year, wildlife and people collide on our roads, often with tragic consequences. In Alberta and British Columbia, highways cut through the very valley bottoms that grizzly bears, wolves, and cougars depend on to move, find food, and raise their young.
When these safe passages are blocked, the results are deadly.
Grizzly bears face conservation concern across Western Canada. They are listed as a threatened species in Alberta and are blue-listed as vulnerable in British Columbia, recognized nationally as a species of Special Concern under Canada’s Species at Risk Act.
Their populations are fragile and grow very slowly:
Banff National Park has shown the world what’s possible:
Now it’s time to bring these solutions beyond park boundaries.
On June 8, 2024, Nakoda, a rare white grizzly bear that was one of Canada's most beloved and famous bears, passed away due to injuries sustained in a vehicle collision on the Trans-Canada Highway near the British Columbia-Alberta border in Yoho National Park. Hours before Nakoda was struck by a vehicle, her two young cubs were also struck and killed on the same highway. A day later, a male grizzly was also killed in similar circumstances.
Together, we have the power to raise the alarm and to make permanent change. Nakoda, her cubs, and the male grizzly all suffered the same fate as Nakoda's sister and mother years before and together these bears joined a long list of human-caused grizzly bear mortalities in our mountain national parks since 2019. We believe that each of these deaths were preventable and caused by a lack of action from Transport Canada, Parks Canada, Canadian Pacific Railway and the Government of Canada. Write a letter today to ensure action is taken to prevent this from happening again and to give a voice to Nakoda and her cubs.
