Trains Keep Hitting Drunk Grizzly Bears in Montana

Dozens of grizzly bears have been getting drunk on a stretch of train tracks near Glacier National Park in Montana, and many end up getting hit by trains after nibbling on the fermented grain spilled from the cars.

The risky piece of rail runs over Marias Pass and the Great Bear Wilderness. According to state and federal wildlife agencies, the rail line has been the site of 63 grizzly bears’ deaths since 1980. In 2019 alone, eight bears were killed by the trains, and so far this year three have been killed.

Retired federal ecologist Chuck Neal said that a unique combination of factors makes it even harder for bears to escape the trains. He recently told Cowboy State Daily that when the grain spilled from the railcars is mixed with enough moisture from snow and rain, “the spilled grain actually ferments in place and becomes a de facto brewery.”

Neal said that not enough is being done to prevent the grizzlies from being hit by trains. Bears attracted to the fermented grain “might fall asleep right on site if they get drunk first. They can, and have, fallen asleep in a drunken stupor right on the tracks,” Neal told the outlet.

He added, “Other times they loiter on the tracks until a train approaches, at high speed, then drunkenly attempt to outrun the train — no can do — and are smashed.”

Neal claimed that the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) rail company delayed doing anything about the matter because the company believed that grizzlies would be taken off the endangered species list.

One potential solution that Neal said was being discussed was creating a noisemaker that would be triggered as trains approach the particularly dangerous sections to wake and scare off the bears. “Of course, if the bears are drunk, it is questionable how effective that would be,” Neal told the outlet.

Another possible solution could be to lighten the train cars' loads so that they are less likely to spill, or to not run trains in weather conditions that increase the likelihood of spills — both of which Neal said BNSF is not a fan.

“So right now, the last word that I have is that not much has been done at all and the bears continue to die,” Neal told Cowboy State Daily.