Parks Canada Has Discussed Killing Banff’s Most Famous Grizzly, Internal Emails Reveal

For decades, Bear 122, better known as The Boss, has made his home in one of Canada's busiest national parks.

From railway tracks to busy roads and encounters with visitors, the large, dominant grizzly has spent much of his life navigating a landscape increasingly shared with people.

His longevity has helped make him a local legend. His survival also highlights the complicated relationship between wild animals and the people who live, work and travel through their habitat.

Parks Canada records obtained by Bow Valley Insider through an access-to-information request document human food rewards, close encounters, and efforts to manage those risks. Internal correspondence also discusses the possibility of potentially removing The Boss from the wild through lethal measures.

No decision to remove him has been confirmed.

That possibility has drawn attention to The Boss’s future. But his story also offers a way to understand what keeping a familiar bear wild requires.

Familiarity is not the same as a food reward

For a bear whose range includes an increasingly busy valley, avoiding people altogether may be difficult.

Bill Hunt, a former Banff resource conservation manager now with the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, says a small number of Banff’s grizzlies occupy ranges that require them to navigate communities, railways, highways, wildlife crossing structures and popular recreation areas.

Repeated encounters can make those bears less likely to be surprised by people. That process is called habituation.

“These bears are necessarily habituated to humans,” Hunt said.

They may show little reaction to a human encounter, he explained, unless they are guarding a mate, offspring or food source. His observations apply specifically to Banff’s heavily visited national park setting.

Food conditioning is different. It develops when bears receive food rewards and begin associating people or developed places with something to eat.

Preventing that requires cooperation from visitors, residents, businesses and governments, Hunt said. Garbage, recycling, bird feeders, fruit trees, compost and kitchen grease can all provide rewards.

For The Boss, whose roughly 2,000-square-kilometre range spans Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national parks, opportunities to encounter human food sources extend across a large and heavily used landscape.

Grizzly researcher Gordon Stenhouse says bears remember where they have found food, much as they remember a productive berry patch. Mothers also teach cubs where to feed.

A food source created by people can become another place worth returning to.

Parks Canada’s records describe a September 2023 encounter in which The Boss fed on crabapples in Banff and charged toward a wildlife officer. Staff interpreted the behaviour as likely defence of the food source.

The tree was removed. The bear returned that evening, even though the food reward was gone.

The incident shows how a food source in town can attract a bear and create potentially dangerous encounters.

The Town of Banff says 29 fruit trees, nearly all crabapples, have been removed since that incident. Another 13 mountain ash trees are scheduled for removal this fall.

To the Town’s knowledge, bears have not accessed fruit during the past three years. Its response credits proactive Parks Canada work alongside the removals.

The effort involves more than cutting trees. Through door-knocking and education, staff address residents’ attachment to them and misconceptions about which fruit attracts bears.

Some residents believe town fruit helps wildlife during poor berry years, the Town said.

Banff’s fruit tree replacement program offers to remove eligible fruit trees and replace them with non-fruit-bearing trees at no cost to property owners.

Along the railway, CPKC says crews clean up identified grain spills and work with Parks Canada to manage attractants.

The company also manages vegetation to improve sightlines and give wildlife room to leave the tracks, and conducts a joint spring corridor inspection with Parks Canada.

Those efforts address risks associated with a food source bears have learned to use. They do not eliminate the need for continued prevention.

Giving a familiar bear space

Food is only part of the challenge.

Parks Canada says The Boss has become accustomed to people because his range overlaps some of Banff’s busiest areas. Familiarity, however, does not make close approaches harmless.

Stenhouse says crowds surrounding a roadside bear can create stress and leave little room for the animal to move. An encounter can change quickly if someone gets too close.

His broader point is that bear management often depends on managing people: securing food, maintaining distance, and understanding how an animal may respond.

The Boss’s incident history includes encounters requiring aversive conditioning, which uses deterrents to discourage unwanted behaviour, and closures.

Records also show instances where he responded to staff hazing and moved away, demonstrating both difficult situations and successful interventions.

Hunt urges residents and visitors to respect closures, give wildlife space and report unsecured attractants or concerning encounters promptly. He also encourages locals to offer friendly guidance when visitors do not understand how to behave around wildlife.

That participation may become increasingly important as The Boss ages, Hunt said, because he may seek easier sources of food.

Age alone does not explain a bear’s behaviour. Stenhouse says physical condition can influence the risks an animal is willing to accept to obtain food. He recalls working with bears that lived into their 30s.

Stenhouse has not handled Bear 122; his observations describe general bear behaviour rather than an assessment of The Boss’s current health.

What is at stake

The Boss’s importance extends beyond his recognizability.

Parks Canada says he has played an important ecological role and has “likely sired most of the young grizzly bears in the Bow Valley.”

That is a qualified assessment, rather than a confirmed count of his offspring. It nevertheless points to a contribution that is less visible than his roadside appearances.

Stenhouse says older males can have substantial breeding contributions, passing their genes to numerous offspring over their lives.

The Boss has also contributed to Parks Canada’s understanding of grizzly ecology through decades of monitoring, including information about habitat use, seasonal movements, diet and behaviour.

Keeping him on the landscape involves balancing that conservation significance with public safety and his welfare.

An uncertain future

In April 2025, Parks Canada staff discussed a coordinated management approach across the Banff and Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay field units.

The correspondence raised concerns about The Boss's age, physical condition, access to unnatural food sources and behaviour. Staff also discussed preparing for the possibility of lethal removal in the future.

In an email obtained by Bow Valley Insider, a Parks Canada staff member outlined growing concerns about Bear 122.

"With his advanced age, declining condition, recent history of hitting multiple unnatural food rewards, high level of habituation, and changing behaviour towards staff we have growing public/staff safety concerns."

They also said staff had begun preparing for the possibility of more serious intervention.

"We’ve also begun working to proactively to ‘prepare’ our Management and ER Teams for the possible scenario where we need to lethally remove 122 from the landscape due to public safety or welfare concerns."

Preparing for that possibility is not the same as deciding to carry it out.

Parks Canada has not provided additional answers about the status of a management plan or current criteria for removing Bear 122. The agency supplied a statement, then said it had no further information to share. It declined an interview, citing operational demands.

In its statement, Parks said that The Boss is managed like any other grizzly presenting similar considerations. It also described his longevity as evidence of what coexistence can achieve, crediting visitors and residents who have generally given him the space to remain wild.

Hunt’s advice places that responsibility across the community: secure attractants, respect closures, keep a distance and help others do the same.

The railway, roads and communities are part of the landscape The Boss must navigate. So are the choices people make within them.

A grain spill cleared, an attractant removed or a crowd stepping back can change what a bear encounters. For Banff’s most famous grizzly, those ordinary actions are part of what it takes to keep living wild.