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A woman who filmed a viral video of her off-leash dog metres from a grizzly bear was fined $1,500 after she pleaded guilty Wednesday morning in Canmore Court of Justice.
Brook Koski faced charges stemming from having an off-leash dog on a trail in Banff National Park.
A roughly 90-second video of the encounter, which was played in court, generated several million views after it was posted on TikTok. It showed Koski’s husband Kraig with bear spray metres away from Grizzly Bear 142, a well-known female bear, yelling “back off” and “get out of here.”
An off-leash dog runs between him and his wife, who is filming, as the grizzly walks along the trail and moves into the woods. The bear, which is the daughter of Bear 122 better known to many Albertans as The Boss, showed no signs of aggression.
Brook Koski tearfully apologized in court for her “lapse in judgement.”
“We’ve learned our lesson,” Koski said of the incident.
Isaak Hurst, Koski’s lawyer, said Koski was “distressed” during the incident and it was her first time in court. The two appeared online from Seattle, Wash.
Hurst said they wanted to be respectful of Canadian nature and wildlife, and noted there was “tremendous amount of hate being spit at my client” online.
He said the dog didn’t attack the grizzly, Koski’s husband acted calm and the encounter was a “master class in how to handle a situation with a grizzly bear approaching you.”
A clip of a video posted to the TikTok account twohumanstwodogs shows a close grizzly bear encounter on a hiking trail in Banff National Park. Parks Canada has charged the two hikers because their dog was off-leash.
‘We need to co-exist with these animals’
Crown attorney Caroline Lirette said the encounter was “terrifying,” but it’s “important for dogs to be on-leash to minimize and eliminate any potential for a negative bear encounter.”
She said it’s up to visitors to learn rules when visiting national parks, calling the situation “a lapse in judgement.”
“We need to co-exist with these animals,” Lirette said.
Lirette said three people on the trail July 19 reached out to Banff park wardens to report the off-leash dog.
The warden found the video posted to Koski’s TikTok and the couple’s Strava accounts. He contacted the couple, who voluntarily came to their office where Koski admitted she took both their dogs off-leash when hiking the trail.
‘Animals can react unpredictably’
Justice Indra Maharaj said access to the outdoors, as well as protecting nature and wildlife, are all Canadian values.
She said Koski showed “sincere remorse,” but “animals can react unpredictably and they will react in ways that ensure their survival.”
Maharaj said the grizzly could have had cubs in the area, but thankfully there wasn’t a bad outcome.
She added it may seem like a small matter, but it was “quite significant.”
“The reason we have these leash laws isn’t to inconvenience hikers or make it difficult. It’s to make sure people are safe and ensure the safety of animals you may not see,” she said.
The Journal of Wildlife Management recently published a study looking at more than 300 conflicts between dogs and bears. They found dogs started more than half those conflicts, and five people and 56 dogs died.
‘Your actions matter’
Parks Canada mandates dogs be on a leash at all times in national parks. In the mountain national parks of Banff, Jasper, Kootenay and Yoho, dogs are allowed on most trails and day-use areas, unless the federal agency says otherwise.
Giuliana Eljuri, a communications officer for the Banff field unit, said people should consider leaving their dog at home if they’re camping, hiking or in the backcountry. People should also check for trail restrictions before visiting national parks, she added.
“Your actions matter. It is illegal to feed, entice or disturb any wildlife in a national park,” said Eljuri.
“This includes allowing an off-leash dog to chase wildlife.”
