In places like Banff National Park and B.C.’s Elk Valley, trains pose a major threat to grizzly bears and other wildlife. Photo: Leah Hennel / Calgary Herald, a division of PostmediaInvestigationCollision course: Animals killed on Canada’s railwaysIn places like Banff National Park and B.C.’s Elk Valley, trains pose a major threat to grizzly bears and other wildlife. Photo: Leah Hennel / Calgary Herald, a division of PostmediaSome of the hardest calls came in the middle of the night. An elk hit by a train. Its back was broken, or its legs crushed, and it was still alive. Frank de Boon struggled with those calls. There was nothing he could do until daylight.When morning came, he’d hike down the tracks, gun slung over his shoulder, to find the injured animal and put an end to its suffering.Most conservation officers get into it to protect animals or police fish and wildlife crime, de Boon said. He didn’t expect he’d have to euthanize so many elk and deer maimed on the railway. But it was a regular part of the job he did for 30-odd years in B.C.’s Elk Valley.“I think all conservation officers were concerned about it,” he said. “We were seeing it all the time.”Even years after he retired from B.C.’s Conservation Officer Service, Frank de Boon worries about the toll the railway is taking on wildlife in the Elk Valley. Photo: Leah Hennel / The NarwhalThe B.C. government was alerted decades ago to the railways’ impact. In 1982, a wildlife biologist for B.C.’s environment ministry warned trains were killing hundreds of moose every year in the Central Interior alone. He said better reporting was needed to understand the true scope of the problem and cautioned that “failing to research solutions to recurrent rail-moose collisions now will, in time, prove to be an embarrassment.”Companies are supposed to report rail kills to the B.C. government under the Wildlife Act, which requires any person who kills or injures wildlife accidentally to report the incident and location. But records obtained by The Narwhal through freedom of information requests show reporting is both inconsistent and incomplete, meaning B.C. still doesn’t have a clear sense of how big this problem really is.A handful of internal emails suggest at least some government biologists and conservation officers have been frustrated and keen to see better reporting and fewer strikes. One document summed up the sentiment succinctly: “Railway companies are difficult or impossible to work with.”In the waning evening light, a herd of elk can be found in a field in Sparwood, B.C., not far from the railway tracks where animals have been hit and killed by passing trains. Photos: Leah Hennel / The NarwhalWildlife collisions ‘generally under-reported’: government documentIn emailed statements to The Narwhal, both Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) railway companies said they report wildlife strikes to the B.C. government and take steps to reduce wildlife mortality on their railways.Between 2020 and the end of 2023, CN reported at least 340 wildlife collision incidents in B.C., including 202 incidents involving moose and 67 involving bears, according to a spreadsheet the B.C. government released to The Narwhal.Those numbers likely don’t capture the full extent of railway strikes. In 2021, for instance, it appears the company reported just four collisions, compared with 120 the year before and 136 the year after.In a statement, CN spokesperson Ashley Michnowski said “wildlife collisions can and do occur, despite our efforts to reduce them,” but did not address the inconsistency in the 2021 data.Despite the discrepancies, CN’s reporting does include dates, times and GPS locations for strikes — information scientists would need to identify collision hotspots. It’s also collected in a spreadsheet, which means the data can be analyzed more easily.The system spans from the west coast all the way east to Nova Scotia. In total, Canada’s rail network is 43,000 route-kilometres.Loading…CNCPKCOthersStretching for tens of thousands of kilometres, Canada’s freight rail network weaves through ecosystems already under pressure from development and climate change. According to Transport Canada, the majority of railways in the country are owned by one of two companies: CN or CPKC. Visualization: Andrew Munroe / The Narwhal / Global Reporting Centre. Map data from OpenStreetMap.Documents The Narwhal obtained from the B.C. government show CPKC reports wildlife strikes to the Conservation Officer Service, which records the incidents in human-wildlife conflict reports.The Narwhal reviewed more than 350 pages of those reports and found CPKC reported trains hit about 182 animals in the Kootenays in 2022 and 2023, including at least 90 elk, 49 deer, 18 black bears and eight grizzlies.The company declined to comment on the wildlife strike numbers beyond reiterating that it reports collisions to relevant authorities.However, internal records suggest at least some government officials are concerned railway companies are failing on that front: “Collisions are generally under-reported,” according to a document titled “Railway collision file — fast facts.” A ministry spokesperson said the document summarizes the results of a simple, non-scientific survey undertaken to help government staff learn more about wildlife collisions. According to the summary, the survey identified 53 dead elk along a 60-kilometre section of track in the Kootenays during the winter of 2022/2023.While surveys have been used in some areas to monitor collisions, those efforts have not been expanded, a spokesperson for B.C.’s Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship said in a statement. “We continue to engage with CN and CKPC about survey opportunities.”Trains are depicted as animated lines on an interactive map of the Elk Valley. In total, throughout August 2025, 414 coal trains, 84 grain trains, and 257 “other” trains are counted.Loading…Centre on:This map shows train trips in August 2025 captured by three RailState sensors installed near Jaffray, Fernie and Sparwood. Coal trains were the most common and are highlighted in black. Grain trains are yellow. The legend shows a total count of unique trains. Train trip data provided by RailState. Visualization and data analysis: Andrew Munroe / The Narwhal / Global Reporting Centre. Additional data analysis by Sean Mussenden / Howard Center for Investigative Journalism. Map data from OpenStreetMap.The ministry said it is working to collate data on rail-wildlife collisions, but the spokesperson noted it will take time to pull information from numerous sources.At the same time, the ministry is working to review and streamline requirements, improve data collection and assess options for reducing collisions, the spokesperson said.An ‘out of sight, out of mind’ problemNeither CPKC nor CN agreed to be interviewed by The Narwhal and instead sent statements in response to emailed questions.CN spokesperson Michnowski said trains need up to two kilometres to slow to a stop, on average, which can make it challenging to avoid collisions with wildlife.She added that the company works to reduce wildlife mortality through various initiatives. In northern B.C., for instance, CN has led a wildlife mortality working group for more than 15 years. Alongside surveys to monitor collisions with moose, the working group has installed exclusion fencing along 6.8 kilometres of railway to keep moose off the tracks.“We continue to invest in technology and work closely with government agencies to ensure safe, sustainable operations across our network,” Michnowski added.At least 182 animals were struck by trains in B.C.’s Kootenays in 2022 and 2023, according to human-wildlife conflict reports CPKC made to the B.C. government, which The Narwhal obtained through a freedom of information request. Photos: Leah Hennel / The NarwhalIn a separate statement, CPKC spokesperson Terry Cunha said the company works with Parks Canada, the B.C. government and other experts to reduce wildlife conflict. Clean-up crews respond to grain spills, which can attract wildlife to the tracks, Cunha said, noting the company has replaced nearly 6,000 older grain cars in the last several years.Cunha added that CPKC also manages vegetation to reduce plants that might attract animals, improve wildlife sight-lines and give animals room to safely get off the tracks.“This is a complex problem, with no simple solutions,” he said.Neither company responded to questions asking how many collisions each reported to the B.C. government in 2024 and 2025. The ministry did not provide this information either.In the Elk Valley of southeast B.C. — part of ʔamakʔis Ktunaxa, the traditional territory of the Ktunaxa Nation — the railway is just one of many challenges wildlife contends with today. Mountaintop removal coal mines, logging, growing communities and the Crowsnest Highway have all dramatically transformed habitats. But the railway’s toll gets little attention.Jason Gravelle, the acting chief administrative officer for Yaq̓it ʔa·knuqⱡi’it First Nation questions why there’s seemingly been no repercussions for the railways. “There’s no accountability for their actions,” he said.Jason Gravelle, acting chief administrative officer of Yaq̓it ʔa·knuqⱡi’it First Nation, questions why the railways aren’t held accountable for the impact they have on wildlife populations. Photo: Leah Hennel / The NarwhalPeople aren’t generally out walking on the railroad tracks, so they don’t see the carcasses. “It’s out of sight, out of mind,” he said. But Gravelle, like de Boon, has seen the issue in the Elk Valley first-hand — the remains of elk and other animals killed on the railway.For some Yaq̓it ʔa·knuqⱡi’it members, elk have become an important food source, he said. “We can’t head over the mountains to go hunt buffalo anymore.”He used to work for Nupqu, a Ktunaxa-owned consulting firm, collecting water samples, sometimes at sites right along the railway. He saw animals killed on the tracks a couple times a month, he said. They’d feed on the grain that leaked from passing trains and when they got hit, their carcasses drew in the bears.Railway collisions threaten Elk Valley grizzly populationWhen wildlife scientist Clayton Lamb began monitoring local grizzly bears with GPS collars more than a decade ago, the risks of the railway really started to come into focus for him.When I visited the Elk Valley with photojournalist Leah Hennel in early June, Lamb took us to the site of one of the more intense collisions he’s seen.He turned down a narrow cut off a logging road just outside Elko, B.C. There was dense brush, lush and green with fresh spring growth, on either side, and just enough space between for his Ford F-150 to roll through.Wildlife scientist Clayton Lamb holds two GPS collars destroyed when the bears wearing them were hit and killed by trains. “Bears navigate a pretty challenging landscape,” he said. Photo: Leah Hennel / The NarwhalHe pulled into a clearing near a rail bridge that crosses the Elk River. It was here, just a few years ago, that a train killed a mother grizzly and her three young cubs.Lamb had been monitoring the mother for a couple years by that point. He collared her on a rainy day in September 2019, just south of Fernie, and tagged her as EVGF97. Colloquially, he called her Willow.He spotted her from a helicopter the next spring with a male and made a note to watch for young the following year. Sure enough, in May 2021, he spotted her again, this time with three cubs.Willow’s home range was pretty compact, about 15 kilometres wide, Lamb said. And, like a lot of bears in the Elk Valley, she spent a fair bit of time up in the mountains. But she’d wander down into the valley floor near Elko every now and then, more often in the fall. It’s the time of year when grizzly bears are trying to pack on fat for their winter hibernation and the valley offers up a buffet. But it comes with risk.“It’s hard to not cross a road or cross a highway or bump into a town when you’re a bear living in the Elk Valley,” Lamb said. “They navigate a pretty challenging landscape.”A map showing Willow’s position on an animated map of the Elk Valley during the 3 months leading up to her death. The position is updated roughly every 2 hours and shows Willow crossing highways and rail tracks several times.Loading…Scientists often monitor animal movements by attaching a GPS collar to their neck. That’s how scientist Clayton Lamb followed Willow, a female grizzly bear who was eventually killed by a train. This visualization shows Willow’s approximate movements in the last three months of her life. Bear-tracking data provided by Clayton Lamb. Visualization: Andrew Munroe / The Narwhal / Global Reporting Centre. Map data from OpenStreetMap.Over more than a decade, Lamb collared and monitored dozens of bears, each one offering insights into the unique, and fragile, dynamics that allow the species to survive in a valley chock full of potential threats.Today, there’s a dense and fairly stable grizzly population. But Lamb warns it’s not self-sustaining. Instead it’s propped up by bears moving in from other areas: the Bull River, the Flathead Valley, Kananaskis. The concern is the steady stream of bears could one day dry up as more habitat is lost to development. “We don’t know the tipping point at which that fairly complicated dynamic will stop working,” he says.Lamb pulls two damaged GPS collars from the back of his truck. One, made of Kevlar, a synthetic fabric known for its remarkable strength, was cut in half by a train that struck and killed the grizzly that was wearing it. The other sustained so much damage in another collision the lithium-ion battery caught fire. That bear died too.Willow was killed in early October, when the forested hillsides were awash in the gold and orange hues of fall. Lamb was in Cranbrook, about a 45-minute drive away, when he got the call.He found the cubs lying in a row on the dry riverbed just below the train bridge. And up on the tracks, a severed paw, a pile of intestines and a ways down, Willow.Wildlife scientist Clayton Lamb found Willow’s cubs lying on the dry river bed beneath the rail bridge after they were killed by a passing train. Photo: Supplied by Clayton Lamb“Four dead grizzly bears was an intense collision,” he said.Lamb suspects the train probably surprised Willow and her cubs. In a state of shock, the bears likely saw the path of least resistance — straight down the track — as their best chance of survival. It’s like tunnel vision, Lamb said, they didn’t see the escape paths into the bush on either side.Retired train engineer says more needs to be done to prevent collisionsThat tunnel vision is something Jim Atkinson, a retired locomotive engineer, witnessed again and again.Atkinson spent more than three decades working for CN before retiring in late 2008. For years, he travelled the picturesque route between Jasper National Park in Alberta and Blue River, B.C., cutting through the rugged Rocky Mountains and following the meanders of two mighty, salmon-bearing rivers — the Fraser and North Thompson. He saw all manner of wildlife on those trips: moose and elk, bears and wolves, ravens and eagles.When he spotted an animal on the tracks, Atkinson did what a lot of train engineers do: he blew the whistle repeatedly, hoping the sharp noise would scare it out of harm’s way. It worked sometimes, more often in the summer when the shoulders were clear. But in the winter, when piles of snow lined either side of the tracks, animals would too often choose the only clear path in front of them and attempt, often futilely, to escape the immense steel predator barrelling after them by running straight down the tracks.“It was a big issue, a huge issue in the winter,” Atkinson said.Retired train engineer Jim Atkinson and his wife, Judy Taylor-Atkinson, have long pushed for measures to protect wildlife from the risks of the railway. Photo: Jimmy Jeong / The NarwhalStopping the train often wasn’t a feasible option. A locomotive engineer can’t just slam on the brakes like a driver can in a car. It takes time for a train to slow to a stop, Atkinson said. And engineers often don’t have that much time to react when they spot an animal on the tracks.Night posed an added challenge. “The headlight would blind them,” Atkinson said. “They couldn’t see and they couldn’t judge where the train was and how fast it was going.” Whenever he saw animals on the tracks at night, Atkinson would quickly turn off the headlight, hoping to give them a better chance of escape by preserving their night vision. It didn’t always work.“That was very stressful,” he said. “You can’t see what’s going on because it’s dark and you’ve got the headlights off and you’re blowing the whistle and ringing the bell as hard as you can and then you hear them go underneath the engine.”“It was difficult,” he said. “It was difficult.”Atkinson said other engineers and rail workers shared his concerns about the piles of grain and corn the trains left behind, the snowbanks that blocked escape routes in the winter. As a union representative, he took those concerns to CN management, but said little was done, at least while he was there.In a statement, CN spokesperson Michnowski said the company “takes accuracy and accountability very seriously. We are continually learning and enhancing our processes to ensure we operate as a safe, sustainable railway while reliably serving our customers and supporting the North American economy.”Grain train derailment spurred couple to keep pushing for solutionsJudy Taylor-Atkinson, Atkinson’s wife, was a founding member of the Jasper Environmental Association. After hearing the gruesome stories about wildlife being killed on the railway and highway in Jasper National Park, she was keen to see something done about it. Working with Parks Canada, the group pushed CN to act.They did see some progress. The railway bought a vacuum truck to clean up spilled grain over a section of track in the park and installed fencing to keep bighorn sheep out of a tunnel where there had been collisions in the past, Taylor-Atkinson remembers. But it wasn’t enough, she said.The Atkinsons grew even more concerned in the mid-aughts, after a train derailment outside Blue River spilled a huge amount of grain. At least eight bears were spotted near the tracks in the aftermath, Atkinson remembers. That’s when the couple took their concerns to the B.C. Conservation Officer Service.When I met them in a conference room at their condo complex in a suburb of Vancouver, they had a stack of government documents they’d obtained through freedom of information requests. They also had a handful of old photos of bears on the train tracks — evidence of a longstanding problem.Jim Atkinson and Judy Taylor-Atkinson spent years compiling records about the toll the railway takes on wildlife. Photos: Jimmy Jeong / The NarwhalAccording to those records, which The Narwhal reviewed, a conservation officer recommended in 2007 that CN be investigated for a series of alleged contraventions. The accusations included failing to report grain spills from two major train derailments north of Blue River in 2006 and 2007, which the officer said was required under the spills reporting regulation. The company was also accused of failing to report that two wolverines, two grizzly bears and as many as 50 moose had been killed along 60 kilometres of track, a pattern that was “allegedly occurring throughout the province of British Columbia,” the officer wrote.CN did not respond to The Narwhal’s questions about these incidents.In a statement, a B.C. government spokesperson said it’s an offence to leave attractants out for dangerous wildlife, but noted moose, deer and other ungulates are not defined as dangerous wildlife under the Wildlife Act. When asked about the outcome of the conservation officer’s report into the company’s alleged contraventions, the spokesperson directed The Narwhal to the Transportation Safety Board. A spokesperson for the Transportation Safety Board confirmed the derailments and said the company had reported both to the board.Almost two decades later, the Atkinsons remain concerned that wildlife is still killed on the railway — and they’re not alone.Even years after he retired, conservation officer de Boon still worries about the toll the railway takes on wildlife.In the Elk Valley this spring, he showed me the small piles of corn left by a passing train, and nearby, the carcass of a whitetail fawn. He showed me the field where a herd of elk comes to feed in the waning evening light, and maybe half a kilometre away on the railway, the mangled remains of an elk swarming with flies.“Look at the money that’s being spent now on fencing the highways, and yet the railway track right beside the highway is having the same carnage, but nobody’s seeing it, so they’re not nearly as averse to it,” he said.Credits
Collision course: Animals killed on Canadas railways
