Parks Canada steps up enforcement after three grizzly bear deaths in three weeks

LAKE LOUISE, Alta. - Parks Canada is asking motorists to slowdown and watch for wildlife after three grizzly bears were struck and killed in Jasper and Yoho national parks earlier this month.

The agency says two bears _ a female and a male _ died on the Trans-Canada Highway through Yoho National Park on June 7 and June 11.

A third grizzly bear was hit by a transport truck on Highway 16 last week in Jasper National Park.

David Laskin, a wildlife ecologist for Parks Canada in Lake Louise, says a deep snowpack high in the mountains has kept bears along the roads where there's a lot of green grass and dandelions to eat.

The speed limit has been reduced to 50 km/h in a six-kilometre stretch of Highway 1 west of Lake Louise, Alta., and east of Field, B.C.

He says both Parks Canada and RCMP are enforcing the lower speed limit.