Death of iconic white grizzly bear sparks calls for wildlife conservation
The death of a rare white grizzly bear in Yoho National Park, just two days after her cubs died, has sent a rippling sadness across the wildlife community.
“An emotional reaction,” said wildlife photographer John E Marriott, who called Nakoda a special bear. “Photographers, tourists, everybody flocked to get out to see her. I think a lot of people developed a very deep, emotional connection with her. For a lot of people, she was the first grizzly bear they saw.”
Marriott is also the co-founder of the Exposed Wildlife Conservancy.
“To have this kind of all unfold in the last couple weeks — first her cubs get hit and then within 24 hours, she gets hit and then within another 24 hours, she succumbs to those injuries — when I heard the news, it was devastating.”
Nakoda, officially Bear 178, was found deceased on June 8, and is believed to have died from internal injuries sustained in a collision in Yoho National Park in B.C. on the Trans-Canada Highway near the Lake O’Hara turnoff on Thursday, June 6.
Nakoda’s two cubs were killed in a separate vehicle incident on the highway earlier that day.
Wildlife management staff witnessed Nakoda run onto the road in front of two vehicles, after being startled by a passing train.
“One of those vehicles was in fact able to swerve and avoid a collision, but the vehicle travelling right behind it, that second vehicle, was unable to react in time and that vehicle struck the bear,” Saundi Stevens, a Parks Canada wildlife management specialist, said on Monday.
After the incident, Bear 178 climbed over a fence and was moving with a slight limp. Wildlife officials said they were hopeful she would recover from her injuries, but Nakoda was found dead two days later after her GPS collar sent a
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