Area has seen 18 grizzly mortalities this year

The Daily Inter Lake

There have been 18 human-caused grizzly bear mortalities in the Northern Continental Divide grizzly bear recovery area so far this year, a mark that already exceeds last year's total of 14.

But there is some good news in the count, which was explained at a meeting of wildlife and land managers this week in Kalispell by Chris Servheen, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grizzly bear recovery coordinator.

Only one of the "mortalities" has been attributed to a management action this year, compared to a high of 16 removals in 2004 and seven in 2005.

And this year's removal involved a two-year-old male bear that got into trouble in the Swan Lake area, was captured near Flathead Lake and was eventually shipped off to a zoo in Colorado.

Nine bears have been killed so far by trains or automobiles, the highest number to get hit since 1999.

Servheen cautioned that October historically tends to be a month of highest risk for bear mortalities. That's largely because bears are wandering great distances in search of calories to prepare for hibernation, at a time when hunters are also in the woods.

While this year's mortality count exceeds last year's, it is still below the highest count of 34 in 2004.