Tag Archives: nuisance bears

Griz relocated to Coal Creek meets its end near Whitefish

Environmental Issues, News, , , , ,

Another case of “a fed bear is a dead bear”: The grizzly bear that was relocated to the Coal Creek area in July and soon became a nuisance near Whitefish, has been put down by Montana FWP…

Wildlife officials euthanized a male grizzly bear that was rummaging through food sources near residences outside of Whitefish, the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks announced Thursday.

FWP officials captured the 238-pound subadult male grizzly Wednesday along the Stillwater River, southwest of Whitefish near the KM Ranch Road. The bear had been moved in July from the Lincoln area into the Coal Creek Drainage of the Whitefish Range north of Columbia Falls. Over the course of a month, it crossed the Whitefish Divide and traveled along the Stillwater River between Lupfer Meadows and Lost Creek. FWP said it received numerous reports of the bear getting into livestock feed, pet food, garbage, bird feeders and apples.

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Problem bear captured and euthanized in Polebridge area

News, ,

An adult, female, “problem” bear was captured and killed Wednesday near Polebridge. Here are the essentials from the press release . . .

Glacier National Park Rangers and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologists captured and euthanized a black bear in the Polebridge area on Wednesday, October 5, after numerous incidents in which the bear broke into vehicles, raided trash storage areas and caused damage trying to access a residence. The bear broke vehicle windows and pulled off car door handles to gain access into at least four cars and trucks, including a vehicle in the park. The bear obtained a food reward in most of these incidents.

The female bear was six years old and weighed 241 pounds, and had been previously captured in downtown Kalispell in June of 2008, after it was seen in the Woodland Park area. The bear was tagged and released in McGinnis Creek in the North Fork of the Flathead, and has not been involved in any other management situations since.

After the recent incidents in the Polebridge area, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologists and park rangers set traps and captured the suspect animal. After consultation between Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologists and Glacier National Park personnel and verification that the correct animal had been captured, the bear was euthanized. This action is consistent with state and federal bear management plans.

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Bear problems on Trail Creek 60 years ago

History,

A North Fork-related item appeared in the Hungry Horse News “Yesterdays” feature this week . . .

Oct. 5, 1951

A young housewife home alone with three young children up the North Fork took care of a large black bear accused of being a peeping Tom. Mrs. Jack Mathison was bathing her youngest child at their cabin on Whale Creek near the Canada border when she saw the bear looking in the window. After yelling to get the bear to leave, she picked up her husband’s rifle and shot the bruin through the window.

Rise in bear-related chicken raids ruffling feathers of wildlife managers

Environmental Issues, News, , , , , ,

This very interesting, if lengthy, article is not nearly as silly as it sounds. Turns out the rising interest in hobby farming is triggering some pretty serious bear conflicts. Bears like chicken and sweet corn just as much as humans do.

There are some great quotes here from a collection of highly irritated wildlife managers.

From today’s Missoulian . . .

More grizzly bears are keying in on unprotected chicken coops in western Montana, with increasingly deadly consequences – both for the bears and the pilfered poultry.

The rise in bear-related chicken raids is ruffling the feathers of state and federal wildlife managers who are forced to move or kill bears that receive a food reward, be it from a trash can, a fruit orchard or a bird pen. The conflicts are entirely avoidable, managers say, but it’s the responsibility of landowners to buck the disturbing trend…

“I sometimes get calls daily on chickens, whereas I used to never hear about it,” said Jamie Jonkel, FWP’s bear management specialist in Missoula. “Chickens are the new garbage. There are so many chickens on the landscape that it’s like having garbage cans with wings just tempting the bears.”

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Larry Wilson: Fewer bear problems this summer

Commentary, Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

In this week’s column, Larry talks about the encouraging drop in bear-human conflicts this summer. . . .

I’m a little bit surprised that there have been so few grizzly bear problems this summer.

On Trail Creek, the huckleberry crop has been less than bountiful in the lower elevations, and this usually translates to more bear problems.

The two three-year-old sows that have been seen quite often have not caused any problems, and the big boar on Trail Creek has also been seen but, so far, has not been a problem.

I think there are several reasons for this, but the biggest is the fact that North Fork humans have become excellent guests in grizzly habitat.

Continue reading at the Hungry Horse News . . .

Grizzlies getting a little too close to some homes in Flathead area

Environmental Issues, News, , , , , ,

It sounds like the usual late-season bear attractants are causing some problems in the valley. The Missoulian has a write-up . . .

State wildlife officials worked through the weekend to capture a trio of apple-eating grizzly bears visiting homes near Columbia Falls, but as of Monday they had succeeded in penning just two of the grizzlies.

Meanwhile, a trap set for a fourth grizzly habituating a residential area in Kalispell was pulled Monday following a week that brought an unusual amount of interface between grizzlies and humans in the Flathead Valley.

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Heavy snowpack brings early start for bear troubles

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

Besides the flood threat, heavy snowpack in the mountains means that bears emerging from hibernation are foraging further down-valley for food. Bear managers have had a busy time of it dealing with nuisance bears. The Daily Inter Lake surveys the situation . . .

With too much snow at higher elevations and an abundance of food attractions in the valleys, grizzly bears and black bears have been stirring up trouble lately.

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Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks releases spring bear report

Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

It’s that time of year again. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks released their spring bear report to various media outlets Friday, encouraging people to get ready for hungry bears emerging from hibernation . . .

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks bear managers meet every year in mid-March to prepare for the state’s bears to emerge from hibernation. About the same time, male grizzly bears are already stirring and that is why April 1st is the target date FWP bear managers recommend for bringing in winter bird feeders and seed, cleaning yards and collecting and disposing of bear attractants that have accumulated over winter.

NORTHWESTERN MONTANA
Tim Manley, FWP Region 1 grizzly bear specialist, said it is especially important for residents to clean up around their homes early in April. In recent years, deep mountain snowpack and heavy spring snowfall have pushed bears into the valley bottoms earlier in the season and for longer than usual.

“On the east side of the Flathead Valley during 2010, we had 18 grizzly bears we knew spent much of April and the first half of May in the valley . . .”

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