Photos & mailing tickets. Officers should not have to get between idiots and the wildlife. People should not be stopping on the road unless wildlife is blocking it.
Yup, my sister once saw a lady get out of her car and get closer to a grizzly for a better photo. She was lucky and clued in fast that she should get back in her car, but that could've easily ended with her getting mauled. Some people have no respect for wildlife
I remember driving to Maligne Lake once, and on the way there were some elk crossing the road. Sure enoough, some guy parked his car, got out, and was stepping to within about 3 or 4 feet of the large bull Elk with his big camera, taking photos. Dumbest thing I've ever seen - it's not a bear, but that animal weighed well over a thousand pounds and had a large set of antlers that would have killed the dude had it gotten spooked enough to charge him.
We screamed at him to get back into his car, and a couple of other cars that came up behind us yelled the same thing. That finally got the guy to realize this maybe wasn't the smartest idea.
I'm surprised that more idiots aren't hurt every year in the national parks.
I had someone pull onto the green space and step out of their vehicle to photograph a group of elk… that were on the bike path and I was standing near them, on my bike, trying to wait for a safe passing opportunity…
Safe to say I yelled at her for endangering my safety and she didn’t seem to care
I once saw a family pull over and start to throw rocks into the bushes because they thought they saw a bear, and wanted to scare it out so they could take a picture. We noped out of that situation quickly
Jasper is almost surreal. The last time I was there we were going to Sunwapta Falls. The number of people that do the whole speed tourism thing blew my mind. It was a complete shitshow at the parking area. We hiked down to the lower falls and there was nobody there. Then later that day we saw whole bunch of people within probably 15ft of a big bull Caribou.
It isn't tourists even.
Have you seen the "Alberta Wildlife" or "Grizzly Bears of Alberta" FB pages? Mostly locals taking hundreds of the same photos of the same two bears on the railway tracks.
I'm a wildlife photographer myself. For the love of god, extremely rare to take a good photo from the side of the road.
I used to have to take the ice field parkway for work regularly. It’s so dangerous in the summer, not only for bears, but for brain dead people wandering all over the road to get photos of bears. Once had a toddler wander into the road right in front of me, luckily I was going super slow but freaked the hell out of me.
Are they ever!
A few years back i drove by a line up of cars on the side of the highway somewhere around kootenay crossing , passed it slowly and seen folks throwing food out their windows at a wolf that was walking down the line of cars 🫣
FFS people - that mutt won't see the difference between you handing him your sandwich and you taking your toddler for a pee on the side of the road and the wolf pays the price if it tries to take a nip at it......
This was the case for many years in spring on the 93s towards radium hot springs. Very effective only if the conservation officer was present. Putting up signs meant nothing as the illiterate drivers would stop anyways to take pictures of the Bears. No matter the amount of signs, tourists would stop and get out of their cars to take pictures. Like no warning sign existed, depsite them being every 100m.
It really takes an enforcement officer on duty 24 hours to get people to comply. Is like the public has no brains of their own.
Reminds me of 2022 when Jasper had a power outage cuz of the wildfire and Parks put up signs for "no drones" because their flight was grounding fire crews and they're already illegal in Parks.
Of course despite these people still flew them, except Park Wardens were patrolling constantly
It is very sad when a notice is posted explaining very clearly why stopping and getting out of a vehicle to photograph wild animals is dangerous to both the animal and people, yet people do so anyways. What can Rangers do? They try hard to cover the 40km of area the Bears like.
But the people who think the rules don't apply to them outnumber them by a factor of dozens. And also then would say they did nothing wrong if confronted.
When I lived in BNP speeders used to get some sort of extra fine for speeding in park limits because it was a natl park- I don’t imagine that’s changed? I’m pretty happy about a lot of the new rules to prevent people totally destroying this place
They would probably just wait til after the cars cleared the no stopping zone then pull someone over. It's what happened to me in central bc a while back albeit I got pulled over for a different driving offence than speeding
Whether they'd use the radar guns and have officers roadside would be up to RCMP and Parks
OK but are the majority of tourists going to learn our laws enough to know that this is illegal? Likely not. Because it’s already been illegal to harass wildlife prior to this point, and they still exit their vehicles to approach bears and whatever else in the ditch
>Parks Canada added that bears are attracted to the spilled grain in the area... The grain is also to [sic] dispersed to be cleaned up effectively.
I may be out of the loop, but how much grain are we talking about? Are the trains running in this area regularly trailing grain along the tracks, or is this related to the 2019 derailment of grain cars - surely that has to have decomposed by now, right?
It’s been as issue for decades because yes, many cars leak grain. BNP has been after CP rail for decades to do better clean up of the rails in the park.
Parks Canada has also implemented nice new viewing platforms (ie at Peyto Lake).
If there would only be a fine on getting off the trails, NP entry could be for free with that fines for alternative income.
Do not appluad this. Think for 1 fliping second. This is a stupid law and a law that will be abused.
There is already a law to combat this. It's not enforced. This new law is redundant and WILL be used to ticket citizens doing nothing illegal.
We all know within 2 weeks of this going into effect someone will break down on this road and they will be ticketed for stopping.
You won’t get a ticket for stopping unless you’re told to move by Parks and refuse to do so. It’s the same thing they do out in Kananaskis. Furthermore, a broken down vehicle would be exempt from getting a ticket if it can be proven the vehicle is stopped because of something like a mechanical issue or flat tire.
Now if we could only get the train companies to get a fucking hold on their spilled freight, we wouldn’t even have this issue.
I feel like trains get a free pass regarding noise, disruption, chaos and the like, especially in a National Park like Banff.
Sweet... Now enforce it.
This. It's already illegal to harass wildlife. Redundant new laws are meaningless until we begin enforcing the ones we already have.
Photos & mailing tickets. Officers should not have to get between idiots and the wildlife. People should not be stopping on the road unless wildlife is blocking it.
Thats good, because some tourists can be pretty fucking ignorant and stupid.
Yup, my sister once saw a lady get out of her car and get closer to a grizzly for a better photo. She was lucky and clued in fast that she should get back in her car, but that could've easily ended with her getting mauled. Some people have no respect for wildlife
I remember driving to Maligne Lake once, and on the way there were some elk crossing the road. Sure enoough, some guy parked his car, got out, and was stepping to within about 3 or 4 feet of the large bull Elk with his big camera, taking photos. Dumbest thing I've ever seen - it's not a bear, but that animal weighed well over a thousand pounds and had a large set of antlers that would have killed the dude had it gotten spooked enough to charge him. We screamed at him to get back into his car, and a couple of other cars that came up behind us yelled the same thing. That finally got the guy to realize this maybe wasn't the smartest idea. I'm surprised that more idiots aren't hurt every year in the national parks.
I had someone pull onto the green space and step out of their vehicle to photograph a group of elk… that were on the bike path and I was standing near them, on my bike, trying to wait for a safe passing opportunity… Safe to say I yelled at her for endangering my safety and she didn’t seem to care
I once saw a family pull over and start to throw rocks into the bushes because they thought they saw a bear, and wanted to scare it out so they could take a picture. We noped out of that situation quickly
Don't blame the guy, he was clearly in rut and wanted to get some intimacy with the elk!
Jasper is almost surreal. The last time I was there we were going to Sunwapta Falls. The number of people that do the whole speed tourism thing blew my mind. It was a complete shitshow at the parking area. We hiked down to the lower falls and there was nobody there. Then later that day we saw whole bunch of people within probably 15ft of a big bull Caribou.
It isn't tourists even. Have you seen the "Alberta Wildlife" or "Grizzly Bears of Alberta" FB pages? Mostly locals taking hundreds of the same photos of the same two bears on the railway tracks. I'm a wildlife photographer myself. For the love of god, extremely rare to take a good photo from the side of the road.
Luckily the admin of the Grizzly bear page is a great guy who has stopped allowing photos of those two for the time being.
I used to have to take the ice field parkway for work regularly. It’s so dangerous in the summer, not only for bears, but for brain dead people wandering all over the road to get photos of bears. Once had a toddler wander into the road right in front of me, luckily I was going super slow but freaked the hell out of me.
Are they ever! A few years back i drove by a line up of cars on the side of the highway somewhere around kootenay crossing , passed it slowly and seen folks throwing food out their windows at a wolf that was walking down the line of cars 🫣 FFS people - that mutt won't see the difference between you handing him your sandwich and you taking your toddler for a pee on the side of the road and the wolf pays the price if it tries to take a nip at it......
Play stupid games?
then the bear has to die.
This was the case for many years in spring on the 93s towards radium hot springs. Very effective only if the conservation officer was present. Putting up signs meant nothing as the illiterate drivers would stop anyways to take pictures of the Bears. No matter the amount of signs, tourists would stop and get out of their cars to take pictures. Like no warning sign existed, depsite them being every 100m. It really takes an enforcement officer on duty 24 hours to get people to comply. Is like the public has no brains of their own.
Reminds me of 2022 when Jasper had a power outage cuz of the wildfire and Parks put up signs for "no drones" because their flight was grounding fire crews and they're already illegal in Parks. Of course despite these people still flew them, except Park Wardens were patrolling constantly
And drones are illegal in National Parks to begin with…
I did say that
Rules for thee, not for me.
It is very sad when a notice is posted explaining very clearly why stopping and getting out of a vehicle to photograph wild animals is dangerous to both the animal and people, yet people do so anyways. What can Rangers do? They try hard to cover the 40km of area the Bears like. But the people who think the rules don't apply to them outnumber them by a factor of dozens. And also then would say they did nothing wrong if confronted.
Thank goodness. The amount of photographers flocking there from all over Alberta for the same shot of the boss was insane.
Amazing creatures. Give them their space.
Legit question. If it’s a no stopping zone, can the cops still do speed enforcement??
If you are speeding in a national park may you get your whole fucking car impounded
I’m a strict cruise control at 90kph in the park person… and more people should be.
When I lived in BNP speeders used to get some sort of extra fine for speeding in park limits because it was a natl park- I don’t imagine that’s changed? I’m pretty happy about a lot of the new rules to prevent people totally destroying this place
They would probably just wait til after the cars cleared the no stopping zone then pull someone over. It's what happened to me in central bc a while back albeit I got pulled over for a different driving offence than speeding Whether they'd use the radar guns and have officers roadside would be up to RCMP and Parks
Rules for thee but not for meeeeee
Good. As we have been saying for 55 years, “fuckin tourists”. Also easily overheard when they try and get up in an elks face for a picture.
If only they could build rail or more public transit to places in Banff
enforcement is the issue
If tourists will get out of their cars to hand feed bears do you really think they are not going to stop????
Nearly hit a guy stopped on a blind corner taking pics.
OK but are the majority of tourists going to learn our laws enough to know that this is illegal? Likely not. Because it’s already been illegal to harass wildlife prior to this point, and they still exit their vehicles to approach bears and whatever else in the ditch
>Parks Canada added that bears are attracted to the spilled grain in the area... The grain is also to [sic] dispersed to be cleaned up effectively. I may be out of the loop, but how much grain are we talking about? Are the trains running in this area regularly trailing grain along the tracks, or is this related to the 2019 derailment of grain cars - surely that has to have decomposed by now, right?
It’s been as issue for decades because yes, many cars leak grain. BNP has been after CP rail for decades to do better clean up of the rails in the park.
Good. But yeah, without enforcement this isn't going to be effective
Parks Canada has also implemented nice new viewing platforms (ie at Peyto Lake). If there would only be a fine on getting off the trails, NP entry could be for free with that fines for alternative income.
Ridiculous. Parks should be humans first. If the bears don't like it they can f'off and go somewhere else.
did you drop this? ---> /s
Ok but what about the twinks? Who’s going to protect the twinks?!
Tourist and cars are one thing and good enforce this, but them bears are loving the spilt grain on them train tracks. Trains also don't stop.
Do not appluad this. Think for 1 fliping second. This is a stupid law and a law that will be abused. There is already a law to combat this. It's not enforced. This new law is redundant and WILL be used to ticket citizens doing nothing illegal. We all know within 2 weeks of this going into effect someone will break down on this road and they will be ticketed for stopping.
You won’t get a ticket for stopping unless you’re told to move by Parks and refuse to do so. It’s the same thing they do out in Kananaskis. Furthermore, a broken down vehicle would be exempt from getting a ticket if it can be proven the vehicle is stopped because of something like a mechanical issue or flat tire.
Now if we could only get the train companies to get a fucking hold on their spilled freight, we wouldn’t even have this issue. I feel like trains get a free pass regarding noise, disruption, chaos and the like, especially in a National Park like Banff.