The humble culvert trap is getting a high-tech upgrade . . .
U.S. Patent No. 8,112,934 B2 showed up in Ryan Alter’s mailbox last week, and grizzly bears everywhere are hibernating a little easier now.
The East Missoula entrepreneur has spent three years field-testing a better bear trap – one that phones home when it’s caught something, remotely releases wrong bears and can even reset itself. The patent means Alter Enterprises can start marketing its invention to bear managers and researchers around the world.