Bear 142: Raising Cubs in Banff National Park

A grizzly sighting is more interesting when you know a little about the bear you're watching. Bear 142 is one of the female grizzlies known around Lake Louise, a mother with family connections to some familiar Banff bears.

She's believed to be a daughter of The Boss, the large male whose name often comes up when people talk about wildlife in the park. While he gets the memorable nickname, her life has involved the demanding job of raising young in the same mountains people travel from around the world to visit.

Getting to know Bear 142

Bear 142 is reported to be The Boss's daughter, which would make Bear 122 a grandfather through her cubs. Her mother was Bear 72, and Bear 143 was her sibling, connections recorded in research on Banff's grizzlies.

It's quite a family tree to put to a bear you might otherwise know only by her ear tag. But being related to a large male doesn't make life straightforward for a female raising cubs.

For Bear 142, as for other mothers here, finding enough food and keeping her young out of trouble takes up much of the time between winters. Roads, trains and people are part of the landscape she has to navigate.

Following mum through the mountains

A cub following its mother might look as though it's simply trying to keep up. It's also learning where to find food, which places to return to and how to get through a mountain year.

Grizzly cubs in the Canadian Rockies generally spend around three years with their mother. That's several summers of berries, several springs of digging for food and several winters together before they're ready to live independently.

For a visitor watching from a safe distance, a family feeding quietly can be more interesting than a bear doing anything dramatic. You get a glimpse of the ordinary work that allows young grizzlies to grow up here.

A small start to a long education

The cubs' first months are spent inside a winter den. They're usually born in late January or early February, nursing while their mother remains denned before the family emerges in spring.

By then, the female has already depended on the food she found the previous year. She needs enough stored fat to support herself and her young, which makes an undisturbed summer of feeding particularly important.

Female grizzlies in the mountain parks have cubs, on average, only every four to five years. Raising a litter takes several years, with no guarantee that every cub will reach adulthood.

Living around Lake Louise

If you've visited Lake Louise, you'll know how much activity there is around the lake, village and surrounding roads. For a bear family, the same area also contains feeding places and routes between them.

Bears don't recognise the boundaries between a visitor destination and somewhere they can find a meal. A female near a road may be feeding on the vegetation there, while one on a hiking trail may be taking an easier route through the forest.

The important point for visitors is to give her room. Seeing people regularly doesn't turn a grizzly into a tame animal, and a mother needs space around both herself and her cubs.

Parks Canada identifies the valley bottoms as important routes for wildlife. They're also where many roads, railway tracks and visitor facilities are concentrated, so bears and people often need the same limited space.

A difficult spring for Bear 142

Bear 142 was travelling with two cubs in spring 2026. On 17 May, one was killed by a train near Protection Mountain, and Parks Canada subsequently observed her with the surviving youngster.

The agency said lingering snow had left limited feeding habitat available that spring. Vegetation along the railway was among the food bears could reach in the valley bottom.

The loss left one cub continuing alongside its mother. For people who follow Bear 142 and her family, it was a sad reminder of how vulnerable young bears can be, even inside a national park.

Our encounter with Bear 142

On 25 May, we were driving the Bow Valley Parkway when we saw Bear 142 with her surviving cub. The two of them were play-fighting, and he looked a bit of a handful.

We caught the encounter on video. If you'd like to see this mother and cub together, you can watch our footage below.

[Embed YouTube video here]

The bear in the Taylor Lake video

Later that summer, Bear 142 appeared in a widely shared video showing two hikers and an off-leash dog on the Taylor Lake trail. Parks Canada identified her as the bear involved and charged the hikers over the unleashed dog, according to The Canadian Press.

To a viewer, a bear walking towards people can look alarming. WildSmart's Nick de Ruyter interpreted the footage as a bear trying to continue along the trail, with the people in her way, in his comments to Bow Valley Insider.

The incident gives visitors a clear reason to take leash rules seriously. Dogs can provoke a defensive response from wildlife, putting themselves, their owners and the bear at risk.

Practical Information

There is no reliable place or time to see Bear 142, and you shouldn't plan a day around finding her. Enjoy Lake Louise and the surrounding park for the places you've come to visit, with wildlife sightings left to chance.

Before hiking, check current trail conditions and restrictions. Carry bear spray where you can reach it, know how to use it, make noise to avoid surprising bears and keep dogs leashed and under control. Parks Canada's bear safety guidance explains how to prepare.

If you see a bear beside the road, stay inside your vehicle and allow at least 100 metres of space. Only stop where safe and permitted, keep it brief and move on if traffic begins to build.

Knowing something about Bear 142 can make a passing sighting mean a little more. If you're fortunate enough to see her, enjoy the moment from a distance and leave her plenty of room to get on with her day.

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