Grizzly bears, cougars, sheep and deer met without incident during G7, officials say

Joel Dryden · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 18, 2025 5:19 PM EDT | Last Updated: 30 minutes ago

As the G7 acme concludes successful the fashionable wilderness destination of Kananaskis, Alta., officials accidental provincial teams managed predominant carnal encounters without superior incident.

Alberta conservation officers and food and wildlife officers responded to occurrences involving grizzly bears, achromatic bears, cougars, moose, bighorn sheep and cervid during the summit, according to a spokesperson with Alberta's Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency Services.

"None of these occurrences progressive immoderate abnormal interactions with the wildlife successful question and our modular methods to safely determination them distant were successful," Sheena Campbell wrote successful an email.

Officials responded to astir 200 wildlife-related incidents, astir fractional involving grizzly oregon achromatic bears, said Bryan Sundberg with Alberta Forestry and Parks.

All were insignificant successful nature, requiring lone minimal intervention with nary relocations oregon harm to wildlife, helium said.

"Primarily, we would respond to areas connected ft ... to areas wherever wildlife complaints were received, and usage noisemaking activities," helium said.

Response teams besides utilized thermal imaging cameras and leveraged RCMP drones to show real-time wildlife activity.

"Additionally, specially-trained K9 teams, 'bear dogs,' [were] on-site to enactment our proactive approach," Campbell wrote.

Bear dogs were embedded with wildlife mitigation and effect teams, chiefly to deter bears safely.

Complex, chaotic environment

In the run-up to the summit, officials highlighted the "complexity" of hosting the acme successful the distant terrain of the Kananaskis wilderness.

Preventing encounters with bears was of peculiar focus, some for the information of attendees and fixed past incidents.

The past clip the acme was held successful Kananaskis successful 2002, a carnivore that got excessively adjacent to the tract was tranquilized and aboriginal died aft falling from a tree.

Nick de Ruyter, programme manager of the BioSphere Institute's WildSmart program, said this is simply a engaged clip of twelvemonth for carnivore populations.

"They've travel retired of their dens of hibernation, successful April and May. They're hungry, they're looking for food," helium said. 

While helium doesn't cognize the nonstop numbers, de Ruyter estimated determination are astir 65 grizzly bears and much than 200 achromatic bears successful the Bow Valley and Kananaskis Country area. 

There being nary wildlife conflicts during the G7 contempt an influx of radical speaks to however tolerant and adaptable section wildlife is, de Ruyter said. 

"Ninety-nine per cent of the time, they bash the close thing. They're conscionable trying to marque a surviving retired connected the landscape, and they volition debar us," helium said.

"They'll debar encounters and struggle with radical arsenic overmuch arsenic they can. And truthful we conscionable request to bash our portion and respect that."