Jasper National Park trapping bears that moved into town, may need to 'destroy' animals that return

After trying a number of hazing strategies, officials will begin trapping and removing about 10 bears from the Jasper townsite in Jasper National Park. 

For several weeks now, at least 10 black bears have been – as Jasper National Parks officials put it – "making use" of Jasper and the abundant fruit in the town's greenspaces and yards. The number includes two mothers with cubs. 

The animals have proven "reluctant" to leave and come back "almost immediately" after being moved out of the townsite, the park said in a statement on Thursday. 

"The continuous presence of bears in the townsite, often in residential yards just metres from people, is an unacceptable safety risk for visitors and residents."

Over the next few days, Parks Canada staff will be setting up live traps and traps borrowed from Banff National Park that are meant to trap mothers and cubs together. 

"Bears will be humanely caught using live traps and will be taken to remote areas of the park," the park said, stressing that the strategy isn't guaranteed to work. 

"Trapping and moving bears is not always successful. In some instances, bears will return for these easy, reliable food sources. If this occurs, Parks Canada staff may be forced to destroy 'problem bears' that continue to inhabit the townsite. 

"Parks Canada needs the help of residents and visitors to try and avoid this situation."

A poor berry season is enticing the bears to find easy food sources in town, according to a park resource conservation officer. 

• Jasper officials stress bear safety after cubs found napping on roofs, munching on fruit

Since late August, Parks Canada has been asking residents to reduce the amount of garbage that is accessible to animals, remove fruit-bearing plants from their yards, or remove the fruit from the plants. 

Jasper National Park renewed that call on Thursday, and asked residents to keep their distance from any bear traps they may come across in their neighbourhood. Locations that have a trap will be marked. 

Bear sightings should be reported to 780-852-6155.

Non-residents are currently discouraged from visiting Jasper National Park because a 5,500-hectare wildfire nearby destroyed some of the town's power lines. Jasper has been relying on generator power since the weekend. On Thursday, some residents had been without power for more than 80 hours. 

• 'Finicky' transition to generators could mean continuous outages in Jasper: ATCO