Coming home from a road trip last week, we went through Jasper National Park and here’s what we saw on the side of the road…

We stopped, not really because I wanted to take pictures, but we thought maybe the bear was hurt. We Never see bears just sitting at the side of the road, like this one was. Maybe he had been hit by a car? We couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t moving. Graham was already thinking of how we could get ahold of a Conservation Officer to come out.

Finally, the bear stood up and we could see he wasn’t hurt at all.

He sure had big paws!

Then Graham realized we were actually at a pull out along the highway. Right away, we thought “Oh Crap”.

Someone has been feeding this bear! Why else would he not be afraid of vehicle traffic?

Unfortunately, the chances of this bear being killed have gone up a LOT.

He has no fear of vehicles, no fear of humans and when hungry, he’ll just keep coming down to this spot. After all, someone has fed him here before!

There’s a reason why there are signs saying “Do NOT feed Wildlife”.  So, to whoever threw this fellow a sandwhich out their car window, please think things through. Sure maybe you thought you were helping, but really you are making it worse. There is lots and lots of food out in the forests right now for the bears – stop feeding them!