Wrong Griz Killed

Wildlife

A DNA analysis indicates Banff National Park authorities killed the wrong grizzly bears after a harrowing attack on six foreign tourists, one of them from Montana, in a campground last September.

Moreover, the animals responsible for the attack were actually trapped and released in British Columbia. Parks officials have confirmed the mistake but said they did the best they could.

Professor Curtis Strobeck of the University of Alberta discovered the mistakes when he analysed DNA in hair samples.

The six tourists were mauled when two grizzlies ripped into their tents while they slept in a Lake Louise campground.

Banff park wardens captured and killed two grizzlies - a sow and her cub - the next day.

“They most likely killed the wrong bears,” Strobeck said last week.

The DNA in animal hairs found on the campers’ tents didn’t match the DNA from the bears killed by the wardens, he said.

The same day wardens killed those bears, they trapped two more grizzlies and transported them to British Columbia. Strobeck checked their DNA and discovered those bears had attacked the campers.