From the Flathead Beacon . . .
Wildlife officials captured a young male grizzly bear Friday in a residential area north of Columbia Falls, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
The 4-year-old bear was caught in a trap set for a much larger grizzly that was getting into garbage in the area.
The young male was relocated Saturday in the Whale Creek area of the North Fork of the Flathead River drainage . . .
The debate over the Grizzly’s status in the Yellowstone Park area continues . . .
Grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park will keep their threatened status for at least the next two to three years, as wildlife officials said Friday they plan to bolster their case that the species has recovered.
Federal and state officials insist there are enough bears in the three-state Yellowstone region to guard against a reversal of the decades-long effort to bring them back from near-extermination.
In the spring, a wildlife biologist’s thoughts turn to bear studies . . .
As a way to monitor the ongoing trend of grizzly bear recovery, wildlife biologists are about to begin capturing grizzlies in western Montana this month for an ongoing population study in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem.
Biologists will begin monitoring the distribution and population of bears in their respective jurisdictions this month. In order to attract bears, biologists utilize natural food sources such as fresh road–killed deer and elk. Potential trapping sites are baited with these natural foods and if indications are that grizzly bears are in the area, snares or culvert traps will be used to capture the bears. Once captured, the bears are sedated, studied, and released in accordance with strict protocols.
Slate posted a very lengthy, detailed piece by Jesicca Grose on Monday centered around the investigation of a pair of fatal grizzly bear attacks in Yellowstone National Park last year. Boing Boing, a very popular web log, just picked up on this, so there’s likely to be quite a bit of discussion of this article over the next few days . . .
A grizzly was ambling along the Yellowstone River on a clear day in late September 2011, when she lifted her nose up and smelled something familiar in the air. She couldn’t tell quite what it was, but it smelled like food. Maybe the shredded remains of a bison taken down by a wolf pack, its innards sloughing out of its stomach and onto the riverbank. The sow may have spent the day digging up pocket gophers, but a feast like this would really help her to pack on weight. Within eight weeks she’d be taking her two young cubs into a den in the side of a slope for the long Western winter. They needed fat, and soon.
After months of a diet consisting mostly of grass and nuts and roots, the scent of dead meat was impossible to resist. The mother grizzly walked in the direction of the carrion with her cubs scrambling along behind her. The bigger one, with the blond face, was probably closer on his mother’s heels, with his brother, the color of burnt sienna, lagging behind. The sow had to keep a close eye on her offspring. There was always the threat of male bears trying to kill her family. They knew she wouldn’t go into heat again as long as her cubs were with her.
The bears are off to an early start this year . . .
Bears are stirring earlier than usual and have already resumed behavior that led to a record number of captures last year.
Officials with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks recently relocated a 535-pound male grizzly bear that killed seven calves in four nights near Lincoln. The local FWP office has also been receiving reports of bear sightings near Whitefish and Columbia Falls.
The reemergence of bears has led to a campaign by wildlife officials reminding residents to clean up attractants that increase the likelihood of conflicts.
I kind of like the bit about the electrified mats . . .
The video makes dramatic evidence: A big sow grizzly and her cub approach a freezer in a Flathead County garage. The night before, they’d scored a load of frozen fish. They were back for more.
But this time, the sow steps on an electrified cattle mat placed in front of the freezer. She gives a startled “Woof!” and wheels away.
“I love the look on the cub’s face,” said Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 1 bear manager Tim Manley.
The little bear gapes at mom for a second and seems to say ‘Yikes, wait for me!’ The family group was soon trapped and relocated, and hasn’t been in trouble since.
The use of electricity as a bear repellent has reached a level of effectiveness and creativity far beyond what was first deployed about 20 years ago . . .
More evidence grizzly bears are getting an early start this year . . .
State wildlife officials say grizzly bears are coming out of hibernation a bit earlier than usual and have been spotted along the Rocky Mountain Front.
Just before the recent snow storm, a Fish, Wildlife and Parks game warden a female grizzly with three yearling cubs on the Blackleaf Wildlife Management Area west of Choteau. Another grizzly female with a couple of cubs that are probably two years old was reported west of Dupuyer.
FWP bear management specialist Mike Madel says it’s unusual for family groups to be out in mid-March.
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.
It’s that time again. A few grizzly bears are up and about near Yellowstone National Park and we’ll likely see the same around here soon . . .
Reports of grizzly bear sightings at lower elevations east of Yellowstone National Park have begun to trickle in to wildlife officials, and food storage regulations on several national forests went into effect on Thursday.
From the Associated Press . . .
Wildlife biologists say that reports of grizzly bears are increasing in Montana’s Beartooth Front, but it’s difficult to tell if there are more bears or just more bear sightings.
Barb Pitman, wildlife biologist with the Beartooth Ranger District in Red Lodge, told The Billings Gazette it’s not clear if there are simply more people exploring bear country.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife grizzly bear recovery coordinator Chris Servheen says bears are pushing out in all directions from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem…