Electric fencing put up to deter bears from highway

Parks Canada recently put up more electric fencing in Banff National Park to stop bears from crossing the dangerous Trans-Canada Highway, where there have been several black bear deaths. Staff added the fencing in two areas that had been identified as mortality hot spots in the park through the help of GPS collars on black bears (Ursus americanus) and other data. This electric fencing, which gives bears a nonlethal electric shock when they touch it trying to climb the fence, adds on to electric wire fences that had been installed east of there in the winter of 2019-2020. The fencing is right next to crossing structures, with the idea that bears begin to avoid getting zapped and look for safer areas to cross using the structures.

Read the article in St. Albert Today.