Rare white grizzly bear Nakoda and her cubs die in separate crashes in B.C. park

Parks Canada says a rare white grizzly bear has died of injuries that happened when she was struck by a car on the Trans-Canada Highway in British Columbia's Yoho National Park, on the same day her cubs were killed in an earlier crash.

Parks Canada staff who spent hundreds of hours tracking a rare white grizzly bear known as Nakoda had recently celebrated her emergence from hibernation with two new cubs in British Columbia's Yoho National Park, said parks wildlife management specialist Saudi Stevens.

Now all three animals are dead, after two separate crashes on the same day on the Trans-Canada Highway in southeast British Columbia.

Parks Canada announced Nakoda's death on Monday, four days after the crashes that ultimately claimed her life and those of her cubs.

"It's actually devastated the team that was so deeply invested in really trying to prevent this outcome," Stevens told a news briefing.

She called for better highway awareness in parks.

"So many staff are actually working hard to make roads safer for wildlife (and) we really want to emphasize to visitors the importance of not stopping and lingering to view wildlife, to drive cautiously and to obey the speed limits."

Stevens said that on Thursday morning, Nakoda's two cubs were struck by a vehicle and killed on the highway.