Alberta Bear Warnings & Wildlife
Official bear warnings and closures, plus what people are seeing.
Parks Canada, Alberta Parks & iNaturalist is currently reporting 22 bear and wildlife warnings, 3 wildlife closures, 28 mammal sightings, 88 bird sightings, 4 reptile and amphibian sightings across Alberta. This data may be delayed. Last updated August 23, 2026 at 12:01 a.m. — about 16 hours ago. Check the source directly before relying on it.
If you're heading into bear country
Which is most of Alberta. The warnings on this map are the ones officially posted — but bears do not read maps, and an area with no warning is not an area with no bears.
Before you go
- Carry bear spray where you can reach it in a second — a pack pocket is not reachable. Know how to use it before you need to.
- Make noise as you go, especially near running water, in thick brush, and on blind corners. Bear bells are not enough; your voice is.
- Travel in a group and keep dogs on a leash. A loose dog can bring a bear back to you.
- Watch for fresh sign — scat, tracks, diggings, a carcass. If you find a carcass, leave the area the way you came.
At camp
- Everything with a smell goes in the bear locker or a hard-sided vehicle: food, rubbish, cooking gear, toiletries, pet food.
- Cook and eat away from where you sleep, and never store food in a tent.
- Pack out all rubbish. A bear that finds food once will come back.
If you meet one
- Do not run. Running invites a chase, and no one outruns a bear.
- Stay calm, speak in a low voice, and back away slowly while keeping the bear in view.
- Give it room — Parks Canada asks for at least 100 m from bears, and 30 m from elk, moose and other large animals.
- Never get between a female and her cubs, and never approach for a photograph.
Reporting a bear or a wildlife emergency
If it is a threat to life, call 911 first.
- Anywhere in Alberta1-800-642-3800
Report A Poacher, 24 hours. The province's line for wildlife emergencies and human–wildlife conflict.
Verified at alberta.ca ↗️ - Banff National Park403-762-1470
Banff Park Dispatch, 24 hours. Note the animal's description, behaviour and location before you call.
Verified at parks.canada.ca ↗️ - Jasper National Park780-852-6155
Jasper Dispatch. Call for aggressive or unsafe wildlife encounters, and for injured wildlife.
Verified at parks.canada.ca ↗️
In Kananaskis Country and other provincial parks, use the Alberta line above, or Alberta Parks for local contacts — we don't list a Kananaskis number here because we couldn't verify one against an official page.
Guidance summarised from Parks Canada and Alberta BearSmart; phone numbers read from each agency's own page on 6 August 2026 and linked above. This is a summary, not a substitute for the official advice — and never a substitute for the judgement of the person in front of you at a trailhead.
Bear warnings, cougar warnings and wildlife closures issued by Parks Canada and Alberta Parks, mapped to the park they affect — and separately, recent wildlife photographed across Alberta by naturalists on iNaturalist. The two are deliberately kept apart: a warning is an official notice that an animal is using an area, while a sighting is one person's photo. Quiet ground on the sightings layer means nobody logged anything there, not that there is nothing about.
Data from Parks Canada, Alberta Parks & iNaturalist. Always confirm with official sources before travelling.