Elk Island National Park cameras capture elusive black bears

Elk Island National Park is one of the best places to catch a glimpse of bison up close, but not many of the park's 200,000 visitors each year get the chance to see a bear.

Frances Stewart, a PhD student at the University of Victoria, set up trail cameras to study smaller animals such as coyotes, foxes and fishers.Instead, she found photos of black bears roaming the park, which is about 35 kilometres east of Edmonton.

The cameras are part of the Moraine Mesocarnivore Project, a community effort put together by Alberta Parks in collaboration with Alberta Innovates, the Friends of Elk Island National Park and Beaver Hills Initiative.

We werent aiming to capture bears, Stewart said. Its really just a fun coincidence that we did.

Martha Allen, Elk Island National Parks ecologist, said its extremely uncommon to see bears in the park, but its not unprecedented.

We werent surprised, she said. We normally get one or two bear sightings every year in the park.

Visitors to the Elk Island groundsare more likely to see bison, moose, deer and elk, butmany are excited about the recent bear sightings.

Im pleasantly surprised, said Corbin Musselman. Its nice to know theres some nature out here, and its not just the bison and the elk and ducks and everything. Its other animals.

However, Allen doesnt expect the bears to stick around the park for long.

In the past we dont seem to have records of bears staying in the park for any length of time, so I would expect these guys will move on as well, she said.