Grizzly captured in Swan
A resident in the Swan foothills area north of Ferndale recently took this photo of a young grizzly bear that has been approaching homes along with another bear. One bear was captured for relocation Wednesday and efforts are under way to capture the other bear.
Two grizzly bears have been roaming too close to homes in the Swan foothills north of Ferndale for several days, and one was captured for relocation Wednesday morning.
A Wolf Creek Drive resident fired shots over the bears’ heads after they approached his deck Tuesday morning, and they did not seem deterred, said Tim Manley, grizzly bear management specialist for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
“They are fairly comfortable around people,” Manley said,
And for that reason, he set two culvert traps on private property north of Landmark Lane, successfully capturing one of the bears Wednesday.
“Hopefully we’ll have the other one caught by tonight or tomorrow morning,” Manley said.
The bears appear to be 2-year-olds, and last year there was a female grizzly with two yearlings in the same area.
“The reason they are in there is it’s great bear habitat, and things are greening up,” Manley said. “People are used to having bears around in there, but with these guys, they are a little too comfortable around humans.”
Manley noted that heavy snowfall in the mountains — about 40 inches fell last week in the Noisy Basin area — is pushing bears to low elevation areas.
“If you think about it, bears don’t have a lot of options right now so they are going to come down toward the valley,” he said.
Manley urges residents to bring in pet and livestock feed, bird feeders and garbage.
“The best thing people can do is just don’t leave anything out that bears can get into,” he said.
The two bears will eventually be relocated to a remote area.
“Right now, we don’t have a lot of places we can release because of the snow conditions,” Manley said.
Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.