Parks Canada says it would consider lethally removing Bear 122, Banff’s well-known grizzly known as The Boss, only after other management measures had been exhausted. The possibility was raised in an April 2025 email obtained by CTV News through an access to information request, as the bear ages and concerns about his condition and habituation grow.

The email, sent by a Parks Canada wildlife ecologist and veterinarian to two other employees, called for a “proactive discussion” about managing Bear 122. It said he should be managed “more aggressively” because of his advanced age, declining condition and high level of habituation. The writer said teams were being prepared for the possibility that the bear might have to be lethally removed from the landscape because of public safety or welfare concerns.

Parks Canada wildlife ecologist David Laskin, who neither sent nor received the email, told CTV News that lethal removal is an available management tool but is extraordinarily rare. “There’s a lot of things that we can do before coming to that point, and only once those are exhausted would we ever even consider it - even more so in the case of (Bear) 122,” he said.

Laskin said the bear’s reputation does not entitle him to special treatment. “He’s no different than any other grizzly bear in the park,” he said. “We use a suite of proactive management tools to make sure that he can live out his years, his retirement years, without any kind of incident.”

Bear 122 is believed to be in his mid-to-late 20s. The average lifespan of a wild grizzly is 20 to 25 years. He has roamed the Bow Valley for decades and ranges across about 2,000 square kilometres in Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national parks, Laskin said. “He spends a lot of time near human-use areas,” he said.

Parks Canada’s approach includes educating visitors, whose numbers in the area are growing. Laskin said people should give The Boss and all bears at least 100 metres of space and keep food attractants secure. “He is coexisting in a landscape that sees millions of visitors,” he said.

The possibility of lethal removal was first reported by the Rocky Mountain Outlook in July, leading Donna Buchanan to start an online petition opposing euthanasia. “There is no reason any animal, wild or otherwise, should be euthanized,” Buchanan said in the petition. “It’s so unfair because he has been an icon for almost 30 years.” The petition had more than 2,000 signatures as of Wednesday.

Nick de Ruyter of the Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley said public behaviour can affect the bear’s safety. “The potential problems arise when photographers, hikers, bikers, trail users, trying to find him and track him and get too close,” he said. He also described the risk of The Boss following food smells into town. “He has, over the past years, followed his nose into town to eat apples from crab-apple trees.”

The bear’s name is also used by a restaurant on Banff’s Main Street, The Boss Kitchen & Bar. General manager Steven Sachkiw said the business wanted to reflect the town’s local spirit. The restaurant displays photographs and art of the bear, sells themed attire and serves a cocktail named after him with bear-shaped ice cubes.

“He’s a living legend, he is so widely known,” Sachkiw said. He said news of the possible lethal injection was “kind of crazy,” adding: “to think something with such beauty as The Boss that everyone has this camaraderie about, to put it down would be crazy.”

Based on reporting by CTV News Calgary.