Banff Elk Rut: You Didn't Believe the Warnings, and Now There's a Dent
A bull elk put its antlers into a parked car at Banff's hospital last weekend, in front of a crowd that had ignored every rut warning going. Here is what the warnings actually say.
Parks Canada's Banff elk rut advisory is in force until the end of October, and it says what it says every year: stay 30 metres back, keep the dog on a lead, and do not park between a bull and his cows. Last weekend, in the car park at Banff's hospital, a bull elk delivered the advisory in person.
The video is short and does not need much narrating: the cow gets away, the bull takes it out on a parked white Nissan with someone still inside, and antlers meet bodywork until the driver gets it moving. Nobody appears hurt, which is more than can be said for the paintwork.
The comments under the video run into the hundreds, and a good number are insurance jokes. The most useful one is from someone who says the crowd had pulled into the hospital's staff car park, blocked staff arriving for a shift and parked across the ambulance bay doors, which is a lot of damage to do before the elk got involved.
The thread's other consensus is that the Nissan was in the wrong spot and the elk was working parking enforcement.
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The Banff Elk Rut Is Not a Photo Opportunity
Nick de Ruyter runs the Bow Valley WildSmart programme, a job that consists largely of asking people not to walk up to elk with a phone out. Quoted by CBC this week, he says the usual 30 metres is not enough in the rut, and he wants people at 100 metres, or ten school bus lengths, because a bull in September is not a predictable animal.
He also points out that the fields, playgrounds and trails where elk loiter in Banff and Canmore are the same places everyone else does. The elk are not aware this is a problem.
What to Do Instead
The advisory's other advice is simple. Give elk room and detour around them; if one is standing where you want to go, you are the one who moves.
Keep dogs on a lead, since to an elk a loose dog is a wolf with a collar. Carry bear spray on the town trails, and report any close call to Banff Dispatch on 403-762-1470, ideally from further than 30 metres.
