A new Parks Canada study that shows cars, trucks and trains kill more than 20 black bears a year in mountain national parks has wildlife advocates calling for measures to reduce the carnage.

The study by mountain parks carnivore specialist Mike Gibeau and ecosystem technician Barbara Bertch says 94 per cent of the 477 black bear deaths in the seven parks in the past two decades were caused by people.

The most dangerous park for black bears is Jasper National Park, where 193 of the 209 black bear deaths were caused by humans. By comparison there were 90 black bear fatalities in Banff National Park, 84 caused by people.

Nigel Douglas of the Alberta Wilderness Association said the findings are alarming and raise concerns about the Parks Canada plan to boost visits 20 per cent over the next decade.

"They will get more and more visits and more and more traffic, and presumably more and more mortalities," he said. "The parks have to find a balance between managing for wildlife and managing for people."

Canadian bear expert Stephen Herrero said the report outlines "an ethical situation that is both sad and ironic" because it shows that parks are not a safe refuge for bears.

"There's hardly a black bear that dies in a national park of natural causes," he said.

Canada is likely not in danger of wiping out the black bears in its mountain parks, but there is a danger of the depopulation of bears in some areas of some parks, Herrero said.

He complained that Parks Canada spending on wildlife research takes "a back seat to putting money into tourism and development."

The report says there is no way to determine the impact of the high mortality on black bear populations because there are no reliable population estimates.

While fencing and construction of wildlife crossings on the Trans-Canada Highway west of Calgary have reduced animal road fatalities in Banff — the study says there were no confirmed black bear highway fatalities last year — Parks Canada officials say there are no plans to fence Jasper's highways.

Jasper Park Superintendent Greg Fenton said on Tuesday there isn't sufficient traffic to justify fences.

"The biggest reason for that is cost primarily. We're focusing our attention on other management actions that could lead to less wildlife mortality."

Jasper likely has a high black bear death rate compared to the other parks because it is the largest national mountain park and has the most black bears — a population his staff estimates to be in the range of 70 to 90 bears, he said.

The number of bears killed has declined slightly over recent years as a result of more preventive and proactive measures such as the creation of 70-kilometre-per-hour speed zones and the placing of a higher priority on managing traffic jams caused by bears, he said.

Anne-Marie Syslak of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society said Parks Canada must invest money to reduce highway and railway deaths of bears and other wildlife.

"Right now it is thought the black bear population is not in danger, but if these kind of mortality numbers keep increasing, that may soon not be the case," she said. "This study basically shows a general trend and hopefully what shakes out of this is increasing measures to mitigate all wildlife mortality in parks."

Sid Marty, author, naturalist and former national park warden, said he is worried Parks Canada is taking black bears for granted.

"It seems that an attitude of indifference to the smaller species of bear continues to be as prevalent at Parks Canada headquarters today as it was in earlier decades," said Marty, who chronicled the fatal bear attacks in Banff in his recent book, The Black Grizzly of Whiskey Creek. "We still have no idea what the actual population of resident black bears is in each of our national parks. Without knowledge of the population, the idea that we are somehow protecting these bears efficiently is nonsense."

Marty said changes in strategies around food and garbage in parks has likely saved a hundred black bears in Banff, but more needs to be done. Nuisance bears are shot.

"Obviously, we still have a long way to go," he said. "Although wildlife overpasses have likely saved many bears, the carnage on our highway and railroad, particularly in Jasper National Park, may still be doing irreparable harm to the viability of the population over time. Let's start by establishing the population and policing the speed limits on the highway. The train carnage will require even more effort and money to solve than is currently being expended."

CN spokesman Kevin Franchuk said the railway is working on developing new technology to use low frequency sound devices to keep animals off the tracks.CN

also keeps a rail mounted

vacuum truck to clean up any spills from grain cars that attract bears and other wildlife and it has repaired 3,000 grain hopper cars to prevent them from leaking.

"These measures are having the desire effect because we're finding fewer incidents of grain spillage," Franchuk said

Herrero said the big killer is speed and he doubts that Parks Canada can slow down the trains that run through the parks "because time means money.

"It just does not seem to be an option that CPR or CNR seem willing to consider. It's all about speed, time and money, and the bears are the losers in the long run."

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