Officials want to put scare into bear

Glacier National Park officials plan to school a sow grizzly bear that has become accustomed to humans in the Pitamakan Pass area.

A bear management specialist and park rangers captured the bear near Kotoya Lake Thursday and fit her with a radio collar that will allow for a regimen of "aversive conditioning" in the weeks to come.

Using Karelian bear dogs and hazing methods under the direction of Carrie Hunt of the Wind River Bear Institute, the bear and its two yearling cubs will be encouraged to seek more remote habitat and develop a healthy aversion to being around humans.

The decision to use aversive conditioning in Glacier's backcountry

stems from an increasing number of encounters between the three grizzlies and

park visitors in the areas of Morning Star and Oldman Lakes.

"The bears have displayed no fear around humans and have demonstrated habituated

behavior as evidenced by their close proximity to campers, hikers, and

horseback riders in the past few weeks," a park press release states.

Two backcountry

campgrounds have been closed due the bears' behavior.

"We will try all possible aversion methods to save these grizzlies, which

obviously includes a breeding female," said Glacier Superintendent Mick Holm. "We hope the techniques will be

successful so that more difficult management decisions will not need to be

made."

Holm added that there is "no evidence that the bears have received any human food or garbage; they only need to be encouraged to stay away from people."

Holm approved the use of aversive conditioning in the backcountry, and he specifically authorized the use of Karelian bear dogs, overriding a National Park Service policy that prohibits dogs in the backcountry.

The dogs are used in combination with other aversive conditioning tools such as cracker shells and rubber bullets fired from shotguns.