Grizzly bear bluff-charges man at Stoney Nakoda First Nation near Calgary
After a mother grizzly and cubs were spotted near Chiniki Lake on Tuesday, residents warned to stay alert in the area.
The day's top stories, food & events — every morning at 7. Unsubscribe anytime.
A mother grizzly bear bluff-charged a man at Stoney Nakoda First Nation west of Calgary on Tuesday, prompting a bear advisory for the community.
The incident occurred at the east end of Chiniki Lake near Chiniki Lake Road when the man came across the mother bear and two of her cubs, said Reg Fountain, the First Nations' director of emergency management. The man retreated without injury when the bear approached defensively.
"When the mother grizzly and the cubs appeared and when the mother thought it was too close, it bluff-charged," said Fountain. "It was an encounter, not an attack but you do not want to get between a mother bear and her two cubs."
Fountain erected a warning sign in the area. The bears haven't been sighted since, though many such incidents go unreported in the rural community on the eastern slopes of the Rockies.
Another concern is cougars, which pose greater risk than bears. Grizzlies attack only in self-defence or defence of cubs, but cougars hunt dogs and use them as teaching tools for their young. Bears move on; cougars present ongoing risk to companion animals and livestock, particularly during calving and foaling season.
Some provincial ranchers, particularly in the southwest, say livestock have increasingly fallen victim to grizzlies and have requested more flexibility in dealing with problem animals. A provincial program introduced in 2024 allows qualified hunters to kill problem bears without cubs — at least four have been destroyed so far. Human-grizzly encounters have been frequent in the mountains and foothills west of Calgary this spring and summer.
Stoney Nakoda residents are extremely reluctant to kill grizzlies, considering them sacred. "These animals are considered sacred and they don't want to harvest it unless it's a last resort," Fountain said.
