Bear time: 10 griz trapped in a week

The Daily Inter Lake

During the past week, 10 grizzly bears intruding on rural properties in Northwest Montana have been trapped by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officers.

"I can't think of another time in recent years that there were this many grizzlies handled in one week," said John Fraley, agency spokesman.

Fraley speculates that a poor huckleberry season in the high country could be driving bears to seek alternate sources of food before they enter the hibernation stage in late October, but "it's not out of the ordinary for them to seek food in foothills areas," he said. "There are a lot of smells to draw them."

The ripening fruit on apple and plum trees always is a lure for hungry bears. And three grizzlies were captured at a business north of Condon when the bears were attracted to restaurant grease behind the business.

"These bears are so vulnerable to being drawn to any kind of odors," Fraley said. "They're looking to pile up calories to successfully den for winter right now."

The Condon restaurant was within two miles of nine cabins that had been broken into by a grizzly during the last week of August. DNA from hair samples from the captured bears was compared to the DNA from the cabin break-ins.

The first grizzly DNA did not match and that bear was radio-collared and released in the upper Goat Creek area. The second grizzly was a 2-year old male, too small for the cabin break-in. That bear was radio-collared and released in the North Fork of Lost Creek in the Swan drainage.

The third male still is being held and awaiting DNA analysis.

North of Lake Blaine, an adult female grizzly and her two yearling females have been targeting apple and plum trees. These bears were trapped and moved together to the Spotted Bear River area in the South Fork of the Flathead drainage. The adult female was fitted with a radio collar so the bear's movements could be followed.

And an adult female plus male and female cubs were captured south of Noxon near Pilgrim Creek, attracted to the area by plum trees.

On Wednesday all three grizzlies were moved back into the mountains near Marten Creek and released. The adult female was radio-collared and will be monitored closely.

These bears were captured and released outside the Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bear recovery area. According to Fish, Wildlife and Parks wildlife manager Jim Williams, the action is a reflection of the agency's new grizzly bear management plan.

"We will manage grizzly bears where they occur now and in the future throughout Western Montana, just like black bears and mountain lions," Williams said. "Even though these bears are outside the designated recovery areas, we will manage conflicts as they arise."

None of the captured grizzlies showed aggression toward people.

But it's very important, Fraley said, that people pick all the fruit they can off of trees and keep it off the ground to minimize the potential for conflict. Homeowners also need to secure pet food, garbage and other sources of strong odors.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks grizzly bear management specialist Tim Manley has provided additional assistance to landowners, helping erect electric fences in the Lake Blaine area to protect fruit trees.

"Bear managers are pretty well stressed out over the whole area," Fraley said.