Just weeks after emerging from hibernation, a white grizzly bear known as Nakoda was fatally struck by a vehicle — 12 hours after her cubs were killed in a separate incident.
Parks CanadaThe white grizzly bear known as Nakoda with her cubs.
Canadian park officials are mourning the loss of a rare white grizzly bear named Nakoda after she and her two cubs were killed in separate vehicle collisions on the same day. Nakoda had just recently come out of hibernation with her cubs, only for all three to be struck by cars on the Trans-Canada Highway in Yoho National Park.
Park staff said they are “devastated” by the loss, especially since the team had spent hundreds of hours monitoring Nakoda and working to prevent something like this from happening. Now, the staff are calling for additional measures to improve highway awareness in parks.
The “Devastating” Deaths Of Three Grizzly Bears
The announcement came on Monday, June 10, four days after the fatal collisions. Nakoda, formally identified as GBF178, had long had a habit of scaling park fencing — a growing point of concern for park staff, who worried that the grizzly’s comfort around highways and train tracks would end in tragedy.
Indeed, on June 6, park staff were repairing a portion of the fence when a train passed by, startling Nakoda and causing her to run out into the road in front of two vehicles.
“One vehicle was able to swerve and avoid a collision, but a second vehicle was unable to react in time and struck the bear,” a Parks Canada spokesperson said, per The Toronto Star.
At first, it seemed Nakoda would survive the ordeal, as she climbed another fence and limped off into the woods. Unfortunately, days later, park staff received a “mortality signal” from Nakoda’s GPS collar, meaning she hadn’t moved in 24 hours. When staff members found her, they learned that Nakoda “succumbed to internal injuries related to the collision,” according to The Guardian.
What’s more, just 12 hours before Nakoda was stuck, her cubs had been killed in a separate incident after they wandered through a broken section of fence and into oncoming traffic.
Saundi Stevens, Parks Canada’s wildlife management specialist, told reporters her team had spent “hundreds upon hundreds of hours” with Nakoda over the years, making these deaths all the more tragic for staff members.
“Just weeks ago, everyone in our office was actually celebrating her emergence from the den with two new cubs,” Stevens said.
Park Officials Called The Incident An “Unfortunate Reality”
Due to her unusual white coat, Nakoda proved to be incredibly popular among park visitors and photographers. Unfortunately, as Nakoda became more comfortable around people, she also seemed to become alarmingly comfortable near highways and train tracks. In fact, park officials had to relocate Nakoda back in 2022 because she was spending too much time near the roads.
“It is an unfortunate reality that bears that become habituated to people often have negative outcomes,” Stevens said. “The team has developed a strong fondness and connection with GBF178, and her death has been devastating for the team that was so deeply invested in trying to prevent this outcome.”
Stevens also noted that if the cause of Nakoda’s death was internal injuries, there was little a vet could have done to save her life. Still, that information is of little comfort to those who mourn the deaths of Nakoda and her cubs — especially since grizzly bears are at-risk species in Canada.
“Grizzly bears are considered a species of special concern,” Stevens said. “They’re a very slow-reproducing animal, so every female grizzly bear that’s killed in the park is a significant loss.”
After reading about the tragic fate of Nakoda and her cubs, read about Timothy Treadwell, the man who devoted his life to grizzly bears before they put an end to it. Or, read about the tragic life and death of Tilikum, SeaWorld’s killer orca.
