Dart now blamed for bear's death

The Daily Inter Lake

Glacier National Parks officials are clarifying an initial report that a necropsy did not reveal exactly how a grizzly bear cub's jugular vein was lacerated in an attempt to capture it at Oldman Lake last week.

They are now saying that although the tranquilizer dart used on the bear did not initially cut the vein, it was the dart that eventually pierced the vein, causing the bear to die from internal bleeding.

"Although the initial wound created by the dart was close to the jugular vein, it did not appear to hit it directly," states the necropsy report from Jennifer Ramsey, the veterinarian who conducted the necropsy at the state wildlife laboratory in Bozeman.

"Two possibilities exist that may have resulted in the laceration of the jugular vein. First, because of its proximity to the right humerus, the dart would have been likely to move around as the bear walked. This motion may have been what allowed the sharp dart to lacerate the jugular vein. Another possibility to consider is that the force of the drug being expelled from the dart under pressure tore the jugular vein."

The bear died of internal bleeding on Aug. 17, not long after its mother was intentionally shot and killed by park rangers after a long history of showing the "highly conditioned" behavior of approaching humans in the Oldman Lake and Morning Star Lake campgrounds.

Park officials had intended to capture both of the 17-year-old bear's two yearling cubs for transport to the Bronx Zoo in New York. The surviving cub was sent to the zoo.

"The unintended death of this yearling grizzly is a very unfortunate outcome of a very difficult operation," said Glacier Superintendent Chas Cartwright.