This is incredible. Not far from the Banff townsite, a popular resort town in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Parks Canada officials spotted grizzly #148 on a fishing expedition.
The female bear spent a week there earlier this month plucking spawning suckerfish from a pond by Vermilion Lakes.
Parks Canada closed the area to hikers to let the bear do her thing.
Salmon are a significant food source for grizzlies in coastal regions, but fish are a rare treat for bears in land-locked Alberta.
“Every once in a while, nature delivers. Here’s some spectacular video of female grizzly bear #148 feeding on fish just a few minutes outside the Banff townsite in Banff National Park,” officials wrote in its posting to YouTube.
Other critters also enjoyed the fish bits that grizzly #148 left behind. Coyotes, bald eagles and other critters feasted on the scraps.
Photos Parks Canada/YouTube
I was visiting Banff from Australia in April when #148 made her appearance from hibernation. She wandered around the Rimrock Hotel to the delight, and trepidation, of guests. There was the lingering sense that we were intruding into her natural habitat. It is wonderful to have a situation where bears and larer arrivals can co-exist.
Good to see her feeding on salmon amply compensating for her Winter slumber
Susan