Rash of grizzly deaths ends promising trend

A recent rash of grizzly bear deaths has driven the mortality toll for the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem closer to last year's unprecedented mark and erased a promising trend in the Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bear recovery area.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks on Wednesday reported two grizzly bear deaths in the Flathead Valley, along with two grizzly deaths in the Yaak and another at the southern end of the Cabinet Mountains.

The Flathead bears raise the tally for the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem to 24 human-caused deaths this year, compared to last year's record 31 bear deaths, said Chris Servheen, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's grizzly bear recovery coordinator.

No known grizzly bear mortalities have occurred in the Cabinet-Yaak recovery area for the past two years. That changed with a biologist's discovery of a dead bear with a radio collar in the Yaak, another dead bear that was reported by a Yaak landowner, and the discovery of a female

grizzly that had been killed by a train in the Noxon area, at the southern end of the Cabinet Mountains.

Servheen and state officials are not discussing details of the Yaak bear deaths, which are under investigation. But they are considered significant losses, because the government estimates there are fewer than 40 grizzly bears in the Cabinet-Yaak recovery area.

State officials also did not release details on a grizzly bear that recently was "killed on the east side of the Flathead Valley," other than saying that "a landowner reported this mortality."

Wardens and wildlife managers could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The press release said that an adult female grizzly bear recently was found dead by biologists in the North Fork Flathead drainage.

"Lab reports were unable to determine the cause of death, but the death may have been related to a recent capture of the bear for population monitoring," the state's press release says.

Grizzly bear management specialist Tim Manley said bears rarely die from stress related to a capture, but it has been documented. Manley has captured and handled more than 100 grizzly bears without a death.

Last weekend, Manley captured a female grizzly with two male cubs northeast of Ferndale after the bears got into garbage, dog food and a chest freezer in an open carport. The bears were relocated Monday in the upper Goat Creek drainage of the Swan Valley.

Servheen said he will discuss this year's mortalities in detail at a meeting of the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem subcommittee, a panel of state and federal land and wildlife managers charged with managing grizzly bear recovery in the ecosystem. The panel meets Tuesday at Fish, Wildlife and Parks regional headquarters in Kalispell.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.